Ukraine's 'Bachelor' starred an amputee. He's one of many injured veterans navigating a new sex life
CTV
When 35-year-old combat medic Tetyana Tsymbaliuk regained consciousness in the hospital room, she found her boyfriend waiting with a bunch of flowers. He proposed, but she declined. After a serious injury, her leg had been amputated; she worried about being a burden as a wife.
When 35-year-old combat medic Tetyana Tsymbaliuk regained consciousness in the hospital room, she found her boyfriend waiting with a bunch of flowers. He proposed, but she declined. After a serious injury, her leg had been amputated; she worried about being a burden as a wife.
“I realized that before amputation, I was more attractive. I was not sure that I could find a way to fulfil my family role as a woman,” said Tsymbaliuk. It took her a long time to regain her confidence.
Tsymbaliuk says she was one of the first Ukrainian military amputees following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. Almost three years on, nearly 370,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded. Thousands have lost one or more limbs.
While the government does not provide official figures on amputations, a state program issued prostheses to almost 20,000 people across 2023 and the first half of 2024, and many others were helped by private programs in Ukraine and abroad.
In the past two years, Ukraine has implemented protocols for physical and, to some degree, psychological rehabilitation for those injured in conflict. But sexual rehabilitation for people who have lost limbs or suffered other serious injuries has been largely overlooked.
Sex has long been a taboo topic in Ukraine. While modern Ukrainians are more open about sex than in the Soviet era, the topic is still an uncomfortable one for many.
“In our culture, we don’t really have a habit of talking about sex. Not all people can even say this word calmly. It is generally not acceptable to tell a stranger or even a partner about your sex issues,” military psychologist and sexologist Hanna Revunets told CNN, adding that men or women who have lost limbs because of the war rarely ask for help regarding such a sensitive subject.
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