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Wounded veteran of Donbas battle celebrates marriage in military hospital (PHOTOS)

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A soldier wearing a medical mask carries traditional bread specially prepared for the wedding ceremony held at the Main Military Hospital in Kyiv on May 2, 2020.
Photo by Volodymyr Petrov

After surviving a grievous combat wound, Ihor Ponomarchuk, a veteran of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, celebrated his marriage in the hospital.

The groom was injured under Avdiivka, a city in Donetsk oblast, taking serious damage to his liver, kidney and intestines. The nature of the wounds ruled out transport — Ponomarchuk required immediate surgery on the spot. Fortunately, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Major-General of the medical service Igor Khomenko, was in the area of the Joint Forces operation at the time. Khomenko is a practicing surgeon with extensive medical experience.

The operation that saved Ponomarchuk’s life lasted five hours. He was then immediately sent by helicopter to the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Northern Region and later, to the Main Military Clinical Hospital in Kyiv.

On Saturday, May 2, 2020, Ponomarchuk married his bride, Anna Diolomina. It was the 11th wedding in six years at the National Military Medical Clinical Center.