Decorated 'Hero of Ukraine' learns to live with bionic arms

Valeriy Kucherenko is a decorated “Hero of Ukraine” but the battle he is currently fighting is learning how to eat and use the toilet alone.

Valeriy Kucherenko is a decorated “Hero of Ukraine” but the battle he is currently fighting is learning how to eat and use the toilet alone.

Seriously injured in October, the burly 30-year-old is a double amputee with two prosthetic arms.

More and more Ukrainian soldiers like him are losing limbs in a war that has dragged into a third year, and being forced to adjust to life in a country with few facilities for persons with disabilities.

“I have new arms and I need to get used to it. And you have to realise that this is for the rest of your life. This is your whole future,” Mr. Kucherenko said.

The Protez Foundation, a U.S. non-profit, fitted Mr. Kucherenko with bionic prosthetic arms after a fundraising campaign.

Made by a Ukrainian start-up called Esper, they have chargeable batteries and are operated via muscles in his stumps.

But he has not adapted to the prosthetic arms completely, and they often become loose.