Story 6
Iurii and Ksenia
- Veteran of the 140th separate Territorial Defense Battalion
- Now training in archery, rowing, and aerobike, and competing for his region
From a young age, Iurii was drawn to sports. His life took many turns — from working as a milling machine operator to a 20-year career at sea — before he eventually returned home to support his family.
With the start of the full-scale invasion, Iurii volunteered to defend Ukraine. He served first near the Belarusian border and later fought near Kupiansk on the Kharkiv front, where he was wounded and lost a leg.
It was on that border posting, before the wound, that Iurii met Ksenia, a volunteer psychologist visiting the military unit. They fell in love and married.
Through the injury, the surgeries, the rehabilitation, Ksenia became his steadiest support — the woman who had first arrived to listen to soldiers now built a life with one.
After the Hugs for Heroes program, Iurii rediscovered for himself buhurt — a group combat with blunted weapons that he had loved since childhood. At the same club, “Nestrymni,” he also took up archery.
Today he trains actively and competes — recently representing Zhytomyr region at the national veterans’ competition “Northern Outpost” in Chernihiv.
