In June 2023, Sergey Petchenko lost both hands while protecting Ukraine from Russian invaders.
He was wounded in a railway accident farther from the front line after surviving the grueling, months-long war for Bakhmut.
The 42-year-old was left feeling hopeless and powerless. For six months following the amputations, his wife, Anna, had to be at his side all the time.
“Our love is what kept us alive,” Serhiy explains.
But when you see him now, standing on the threshold of a brand-new café that he is set to establish in Lviv, in the west of Ukraine, it’s difficult to imagine he went through such agony.
