«We are in Italy, on Lake Orta, to represent our country, Ukraine, through sport». Ihor Oliynyk29 years old, and Volodymyr Shanaida37, are war veterans. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the beginning of the large-scale conflict, both left for the front, Ihor as a volunteer, Volodymyr called into the army as part of compulsory mobilization. Both were seriously injured in 2023: Ihor lost an eye and an arm, Volodymyr both legs. Now, together with three other Ukrainian veterans who suffered serious amputations in war, they are in Italy to participate on 13 and 14 June in the international open water swimming competition Oceanman Lake Orta 2026 (the second Italian stage after the one in Cattolica on 23 and 24 March), competing on distances of 2km and 5.5km alongside athletes from other countries, on equal terms, without separate categories.
Ihor is originally from Kyiv, he is not married and before the war he worked in a bar, he had already been to Italy once, in Sardinia. He says he was wounded in Lyman, Donetsk region, Kramatorsk district, occupied by the Russians in May 2022, liberated by the Ukrainians after a few months, today dramatically contested, on the one hand the Russian offensive trying to conquer it, on the other the strenuous Ukrainian resistance. Volodymyr comes from Ternopil, in the western part of the country, before the war he worked as a construction worker, he is married and the father of two daughters, and for him coming to Italy also represented the first plane trip of his life. He was wounded on the Zaporizhzhia front, near the village of Robotynewhich after being occupied by the Russians was liberated by Ukrainian troops in the summer of 2023 but, due to its strategic position, has never stopped being the scene of heavy offensives and fighting.
From left, Volodymyr Shanaida, 37, and Ihor Oliynyk, 29.
After their wounding, for both veterans a long period of treatment and physical and psychological rehabilitation began, in which sport played a fundamental role. «Already when I was hospitalized I understood that I didn’t want to stay still, that I had to do something. In the hospital there was the possibility of running and I started, but I then realized that swimming was a better activity for me and for my body.” Ihor understood that he shouldn’t give up. Today he trains for international competitions. “Sport has become a very serious commitment for me,” he says. «Participate in the competition at Lake Orta for me it’s a way to test my strength and endurance, in view of the next big race, Oceanman in Kyiv, in open water on the Dnipro river, on 27 and 28 June: I will try my hand at a distance of 10 km”.
For Volodymyr, sport came after a year of treatment in Vinnytsia hospital. «Before the war I didn’t regularly practice sports. In the hospital I started practicing wheelchair basketball, then I was asked to try my hand at swimming too, but I still continue to play basketball.” And he underlines: «This competition is also a challenge with myself, with my strength and my abilities, a test to see if I can then move forward».
For Volodymyr, in the psychological recovery from the wounding and amputation of both legs the closeness and support of his wife and two daughters were decisive, as well as the work of the rehabilitation therapist and psychologist and today he has taken control of his life again. For Ihor it’s different: «I signed up as a volunteer, I was aware that anything could happen to me, I was ready for the possibility of dying. So when I was injured, I felt psychologically stable.”
It is estimated that, due to the war, approximately 100 thousand Ukrainians, including soldiers and civilians, have amputations and disabilities: the highest number in a single country since the First World War. A health and social emergency that Ukraine is already facing and which has seen the birth of numerous projects and initiatives for psycho-physical rehabilitation, inclusion, family reintegration, in the social fabric and in the world of work, also taking into account the significant fact that the average age of disabled people is very low and they are mostly young people.
The Oceanman Lago di Orta sports inclusion project was promoted, in collaboration with Iron Warriors sport hub (a sports and social club for Ukrainian veterans), from YANKO Fund, a Ukrainian non-profit organization involved in sports rehabilitation and sports development for war veterans, creating opportunities for physical recovery, social integration and return to an active life.
«I want to be an example for many other kids, war veterans like us who are wounded and mutilated, to tell them that life is not over, that there is always the possibility of being reborn and starting to live actively again”, says Volodymyr. He and Ihor now continue in a sense to defend Ukraine, no longer at the front, in a different way. «When you travel abroad and represent your country», comments Ihor, «you feel even more an integral part of your nation. But even within Ukraine we must show other kids that in the country there are opportunities to play sports, rehabilitate and not let go.”
