You're reading: Ukraine’s Heroes: Imprisoned Aidar soldier returns home to Kyiv after losing left leg

Editor’s Note: Ukraine’s Heroes is a Kyiv Post project devoted to soldiers injured in Russia’s war against the nation. Periodically we will tell the stories of these wounded warriors, many of whom need money for treatment, surgeries and prosthesis. 

Maksym Vakulenko, 24, grimaces with pain and puts his hands on what used to be his left leg. He was wounded in battle and had his leg amputated in October after his capture by Kremlin-backed separatists. He was held hostage for a month. He considers himself lucky to be rescued from the hospital in the occupied territory and coming back home to Kyiv.

“For me, everything began with Maydan,” he said, referring to the EuroMaidan Revolution that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych and triggered the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “My wife did not want me to go there, so I went to the east instead.”

He became a volunteer bringing products and clothes to the soldiers and then decided to stay.

“At first, I would come and go, but in August, I did not to return to Kyiv”, Vakulenko recalls, “Since I was an auto mechanic back at home, I started fixing cars and BTRs (armored personnel carriers), and after some time, we began doing small military tasks.”

He was captured on Oct. 15.

Early in the morning, the military alert went on,” Vakulenko says, “We went to help the National Guard soldiers who were surrounded on 32nd blockpost.”

His team was ambushed. When the soldiers started to fight back, the attackers showed the Ukrainian flag.

“The commander ordered us to stop shooting thinking those guys were Ukrainians,” Vakulenko recalls. It turned out they were separatists. “It was a trick, and they got us — killing the commander and many others. I was wounded, having my left leg totally broken.”

Vakulenko says he was shot in the stomach, but his belt saved him. “The bullet rebounded and hit my bladder,” the soldier explains, “If it wasn’t for my belt, I would die right there.”

The gang that disguised itself as the Ukrainian army was led by a separatist nicknamed Batman, known for the discipline and fast attacks. The separatists captured Valukenko and five other soldiers. The seriously wounded were sent to a hospital.

“They wanted to shoot me before any surgeries,” akulenko recalls, “But a doctor, a woman in her 50s, said she would not let them kill me and kept her promise.”

Separatists wanted to exchange Vakulenko and other hostages for somebody in Luhansk jail. They videotaped the man and let him call his wife.

“After some time, they sent me and another hostage to Luhansk state clinic hospital,” Vakulenko continues, “This is where my leg was cut off because some pro-separatist doctors did not want to take care of Ukrainian soldiers.”

In the beginning, separatists thought he and other hostages were from the National Guard. “If they knew we were from Aidar, they would kill us right away”, he says, “And when they found out, they already spent too much medicine and time treating us.”

After spending almost a month in captivity, Vakulenko and his fellow comrade were released unexpectedly.

“One day, Aidar soldiers just came to the hospital and said: ‘Get packed,’” Vakulenko recalls, “I could not understand who they were. After explaining everything, we got in cars and left just like that”.

The volunteers took Vakulenko back to Kyiv, his native city, where he now stays in a hospital. His wife and 3-year old son, who regards his father as a hero, are regular visitors.

He does not regret staying with Aidar when he could have left. “The war shows the true personalities of everyone,” he says. “I found that there were people on the other side who also knew the price of life.”

To transfer money to help Maksym Vakulenko, send to this account:

Privat Bank

Card Number 4149 4978 2411 8170 

Receiver: Vakulenko Yuliya Tarasivna