War in Ukraine: from the front to the football fields, the wounded take up sport to “feel alive”

Many war wounded turned to sport after returning from the front. MaxPPP

While this summer's sports competitions are fast approaching, the war between Ukraine and Russia continues to rage.

Sport allows Ukrainian war wounded to "feel alive", judges national football legend Andriy Shevchenko , interviewed by AFP on the sidelines of Euro-2024 amputee football, which is taking place in Evian, France.

"It’it’s thanks to the veterans that we are all alive today and have the opportunity to continue developing Ukrainian football", says Shevchenko, winner of the 2004 Ballon d’Or and head of the Ukrainian Football Federation (UFA). Also, one of its "strategic objectives" is it to help them "return to an active life thanks to football".

While Ukraine has been at war since the Russian offensive against its territory in February 2022, "sport is an instrument powerful physical and psychological recovery " for its fighters returning from the front. It "allows them to feel alive even in difficult times", underlines the former Dynamo kyiv, AC Milan and Chelsea striker, himself the son of a soldier.

According to the former world football star, there are currently in Ukraine approximately "70 000 amputees", mostly "veterans". "We are developing a roadmap for the next five years to grow amputee football across the country", he specifies.

"A great source of inspiration"

To date, there are two club teams for amputee players in kyiv – including Shakhtar Donetsk, taking refuge in the capital, as well as a third in Lviv (west) and a last in Cherkasy (north). At the national level, Ukraine, which has "four to five veterans in its ranks", is currently participating in the Euro in Evian, France, the host country against which it opened with a narrow defeat 1 -0.

In this nine-day tournament, teams are made up of six outfield players and a goalkeeper, and each match lasts fifty minutes. According to coach Dmytro Rzhondovskyi, Ukraine is in a difficult group, but the former soldiers of the group are a great source of inspiration for the civilian amputees of the group. ;rsquo;team", he emphasizes to the AFP.

According to him, the selection was also boosted by the recent performance of a renowned Ukrainian athlete, boxer Oleksandr Usyk, winner two weeks ago of Tyson Fury, in a fight for the world title heavy weights. "He is the spirit of Ukraine, our power and we are so proud of Oleksandr", says Rzhondovskyi, specifying that in his youth he used to play football with Usyk.

"They are heroes"

Dmytro Rzhondovskyi himself knows how to go about winning a title: the former Dynamo Kiev academy player won the ~60 in 2018 ~em>"Mundiavocat", the Avocado World Cup, in Barcelona, ​​scoring in the semi-final and final. Aged 35, son of a Ukrainian soldier, he explains that he did not fight in the war but that this is his way of contributing to the efforts of the country. "They are heroes. I am not a soldier but, for me, I am a Ukrainian who helps soldiers, men and women, readjust to life after their traumas", adds the one who, with a friend who owned a pub, prepared meals for the soldiers at the start of the conflict.

After this competition with the men's team, he will also coach the women's amputee team at the World Cup in Baranquilla, Colombia, from November 2 to 11.