‘Returning home’

After losing his leg on the front line while saving a comrade, Oleksandr Kotenko, a squad leader of Ukraine’s 93rd Brigade, returned home to Kharkiv Oblast – only to face a different kind of battle.

Before the war, he had tried different paths, from furniture making to running his own small business. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Oleksandr made several attempts to join the army before finally being accepted.

He began in a security battalion in Kharkiv, but soon moved closer to the front. Within a month of joining a combat brigade, he became a commander. What followed was a kind of war few are ever prepared for: Close-range fighting in eastern Ukraine, including Bakhmut, where soldiers battled for every building, and holding a position could mean the difference between life and death. 

“I said goodbye to my life several times,” Oleksandr recalls.

He was wounded, went through months of treatment, and returned to the front again. But during another mission, everything changed. While evacuating a fellow soldier who had lost both legs, Oleksandr stepped on a mine himself. He applied a tourniquet and, together with others, crawled nearly 200 meters to safety. They waited seven hours for evacuation.

The tourniquet saved Oleksandr’s life, but cost him his leg.

After a year of rehabilitation, he returned home, but the challenges did not end there.

In civilian life, Oleksandr quickly encountered a new reality where even basic things, like entering a building or moving around the city, become difficult for people with disabilities. For many veterans, reintegration means navigating an environment that is not built for them.

Rather than stepping back, Oleksandr chose to act again. 

Today, he leads a veteran hub that helps others returning from the war. What began as an informal effort among fellow soldiers has grown into a space where veterans support each other, including sharing information, navigating complex administrative systems, accessing psychological support, and advocating for their rights. 

At the same time, the work focuses on practical change. From improving accessibility in residential buildings to pushing for better infrastructure, the goal is to make everyday life more manageable. In one case, a veteran living on the eighth floor without an elevator eventually received support to install a lift. In another, discussions around accessible parking and safer urban spaces began to gain attention.

Step-by-step, these efforts are beginning to reshape the environment around them.

Oleksandr’s work also contributes to broader recovery efforts supported by the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Denmark, which focus on strengthening community resilience and ensuring that veterans are included in rebuilding the country.

Returning home, for Oleksandr, is no longer just about survival. It is about making sure that those who fought for their country can fully live in it again.