Ukrainian soldiers bear the invisible scars of war
Al Jazeera
How widespread traumatic brain injuries, once the hidden wounds of the seven-year conflict, are now coming to light.
Listen to this story:
Kyiv, Ukraine – Volodymyr*, a 49-year-old contract soldier, is sitting between two raucous tables of young people in a trendy Kyiv pub. It is his day off; the late afternoon sun streams through the windows and across his hulking frame as he orders a juice from the menu. He is a man of few words, but when he does speak, he does so with intensity, staring directly at you with his close-set light blue eyes.
Volodymyr is teetotal, just one example of the self-control he developed during a life of hardship, including a brutal Soviet military service in his youth that saw him routinely physically and verbally assaulted for being Ukrainian. Later, as a professional boxer, he honed the art of physical and mental discipline.