Mykola Dubyna

On March 1, 2023, Mykola's tractor ran over an anti-tank mine, one of thousands left by the russians on Ukrainian fields.

Several days before that, sappers checked the area. On that day, we went to extract the remains of the Smerch and Uragan missiles in order to prepare the field for sowing. We drove onto a field road and literally two or three hundred meters away we hit an anti-tank mine.

Mykola heard a crack and realized that the fuel tanks had caught fire.He had to get out of the tractor as soon as possible.

There was a ringing in my ears. An arm, a leg, like cotton wool — as if they weren’t there. I was later told that it was a TM-62 plastic mine with an anti-personnel mine underneath. The sapper removes the first mine, and the second is already triggered. This is a forbidden method, it shouldn’t be used in any war.

As a result of the explosion, Mykola suffered an open leg fracture, the bone was broken in two places, and his arm was also damaged.

I was transferred from a hospital to Kryvyi Rih. There, doctors began to fight for the femur, which was shattered. There was still a fragment left in it, which needed to be retrieved.

Thanks to a special X-ray machine with the C-Arm, purchased with donations via UNITED24, Mykola's leg was assembled with high precision and functionality was preserved. Rehabilitation is now underway. He is already walking, for now on crutches, but believes that he will soon make a full recovery.

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