Society must accept the fact that the number of amputees will increase during the war, reform the prosthetics system and build a barrier-free urban environment for comfortable movement of people with prostheses.

This opinion was expressed to the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Wednesday by participants in the press conference "Presentation of the Boxers to Veterans calendar," dedicated to a social project with the participation of Ukrainian boxers and military personnel who survived traumatic amputation of limbs as a result of the war.

Presenting the calendar project with photographs of boxers and veterans with amputations, President of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation Oleh Ilchenko noted that the federation held competitions and championships of Ukraine during 2023-2024.

"All of them were dedicated to our defenders, those who are fighting now and those who died. In the calendar project, we wanted to help both ourselves and the federation to get involved in the problems of veterans who have lost limbs, so that they can reintegrate into society, so that people treat them as heroes," he said.

For her part, the medical curator of the Angels Home Care Service as part of the 3rd Air Assault Brigade, Kseniya 'Hutsulka,' noted the need to "change the outdated prosthetics system."

In particular, she noted the need to increase the prices of prostheses, which are compensated by the state, "to a level so that amputee servicemen can be fitted with high-quality functional prostheses."

"Unfortunately, the state is not interested in how a serviceman got prostheses, how he went through rehabilitation. Often, guys who received regular prosthetics, unfortunately, did not use these prostheses until we raised the issue of the functionality of the prosthesis and payment for higher-category prostheses," she said.

Hutsulka also noted the complexity of the procedure for replacing the stump receiver, which patients need after starting to use prostheses.

"Amputees often lead even more active physical lives than before the amputation, because they need to keep fit. But maintaining an active physical form often leads to a reduction in the stump, so the question of replacing the stump support arises," she said.

Hutsulka emphasized that, thanks, among other things, to the active position of the public, "servicemen can receive functional prostheses and do not waste time on adaptation."

"When you with a high amputation receive prosthetics with non-functional prostheses, this delays the rehabilitation period and the patient's morale becomes worse and worse," she said.

In addition, she noted the relevance of the problem of social adaptation and the formation of an inclusive space in the settlements where veterans return after completing rehabilitation.

In turn, veteran of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade and captain of the national team of the Invictus Games Oleksiy "Dukh" Tiunin noted that "society must accept that there will be more and more amputees due to the war," so it must be ready to work with such patients.

"The number of people in the amputee community is very large and it will become larger. Therefore, they should not have problems with either replacing the prosthesis or getting a functional prosthesis. In any area of social life or sports, there will now be guys like us, because, unfortunately, the number of people like us is already very large and it will increase," he said.

At the same time, Tiunin also noted the problem of the lack of an inclusive space, in particular, in the regions.

"For example, there was an opportunity to be in Bukovel, where everything is very cool, but there is no inclusiveness there at all. There is an inclusive theme, these are only popular drinking places, but, for example, regarding slopes or sports, then a person, for example, in a wheelchair will be extremely uncomfortable. Doesn't a person in a wheelchair have the right to use a resort if there are already adaptive skis?" he said.

Tiunin also noted the problems with the movement of amputees in cities on tiled sidewalks, "If a person walks on two prostheses, the tiles are extremely dangerous, because the prosthesis can get into these joints, and you can fly away."

In addition, he noted the problems with lighting, "Anyone who uses a prosthesis will understand that when you do not see where you are stepping, you simply lose your balance. Therefore, the issue of lighting is very relevant now."

In addition, he called on businesses to take into account the needs of people with amputations, in particular, to give them the opportunity to freely visit shopping centers.

"I will not name this shopping center, where I wanted to go up to the store, but there was a very steep escalator, which I cannot step on due to the physiology of my prosthesis, because I lose my balance. And there was an elevator that was turned off, so I was asking the security guard, asking the staff at the center to turn it on so I could get into the store. It was not a very pleasant experience. Communicating well with amputees is a real challenge," he said.