Colonel of the Ukrainian Army, who in August 2014 received

serious injury to the abdomen and both eyes due to a nearby mine
of the city of Mariupol. In this attack, Vitaly lost two of his best officers.
Before the war, Vitaliy served in the Ukrainian army as a combat engineer for many years
(sapper). He participated in a special mission in Iraq called “Iraqi Freedom” and
worked with other servicemen from around the world. Vitaliy is an expert in the disarmament of explosive devices and voluntarily left for Eastern Ukraine after resigning from the Armed Forces in 2010.
He believed that his own knowledge would help protect the nation and the people from
Russian occupation. On August 26, Vitaly was wounded in the abdomen and almost lost his sight
both eyes.

In Germany, doctors operated on one eye and had to surgically remove the other. Thanks to the Ukrainian American doctor Boyko, in January 2017, Vitaliy underwent a corneal transplant at the Wills Eye Clinic in Philadelphia. But, despite all our efforts, Vitaly remains blind. He received a guide dog at Pilot Dogs in Ohio, which he brought with him to Ukraine.