“Pislya Sluzhby” Foundation’s team with honor and delight welcomes a delegation of veterans from the US and Denmark
“Pislya Sluzhby” Foundation’s team with honor and delight welcomed a delegation of veterans from the US and Denmark. Together we had a tour around Ukraine, visiting different institutions and outstanding places.
Our honorable guests, among which are:
Lennart Dall: Danish Army & Navy (ret), Vice Chairman, Danish Wounded Warriors (Veteranskytterne)
Samuel “Sam” Hartwell: Colonel, US Army (ret), West Point ‘81. Humanitarian aid volunteer and point man in Ukraine for PolyTrauma.org.
Ernest J. (E.J.) Herold: colonel, US Army (ret), West Point ‘81. Former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General (Co-Chair, NATO-Ukraine Working Group), past Executive Director IISS-Americas, and IBM Business Development Executive. Awarded (2018) the National Security and Defence Council Appreciation Sign (First Class) by the NSDC Secretary and Ukrainian Medal for the Development of Military Cooperation by the Minister of Defense, for advancement of NATO-Ukraine cooperation.
Nikolaj “Blue Eyes” Fredriksen: Danish Police Officer. Former Danish Frogman and frequently deployed member of Denmark’s Special Forces.
Finn Warburg: Former Danish Army, Chief Medical Officer, orthopedic surgeon, multiple deployments, veteran supporter.
Steve Williams: LtColonel, US Army (ret), West Point ‘82. Chairman of Veteran Coalition International (VCI).
In the City of Kyiv our guests have visited the prosthesis center “Stetsenko”, where they met incredibly strong and brave people, who are going through a hard way of rehabilitation. Head of the Center personally informed guests about the prosthesis in Ukraine, engineer-prosthetist, certified prosthetist-orthotist with an experience of more than 30 years, Oleksandr Stetsenko.
In addition, in the city of Irpin visitors got acquainted with the activity of the Center of medical rehabilitation “NextStep Ukraine”, where we were met by a center representative, our reliable partner Tetyana Hrubenyuk.
However our journey was not only about visiting medical institutions. We met the Heroes of Irpin, who performed an unexpected for russian soldiers repelling in the first days of full-scale war, and did not allow their advance to the capital city.
The memory of those who died was commemorated near the memorial in Bucha. We also visited an exhibition “Faces of genocide”in Memorial Center of Halocaust “Babyn Yar”.
Experience and knowledge exchange between foreign and Ukrainian veterans has become an important aspect of this meeting. Our guests marked the dedication of Ukrainian defenders and supported their way to victory.
Incredibly important were some words said by one Danish veteran: “The whole world has to unite and help Ukraine, because we all have one common enemy”.
Chernihiv was in the list of our stops as well. We met local organizations that work with veterans and members of their families: Charitable Foundation “Blue Bird Chernihiv” and Public Organization “Veteran Community of Ukraine “Sertsevir”.
On the Chernihiv central square we witnessed the consequences of the missile attack, which turned out tragically. On 19th of August a russian missile struck the Drama Theatre and took 7 peoples’ lives away and injured more than 150 people.
The Director of the Chernihiv Stadium Andriy Volkov told us about the Stadium functioning before the full-scale invasion:
“1250 athletes aged 5-21 at the Olympic level maintained their level in 4 sports: weightlifting, athletics, boxing and football. On the basis of the Stadium Football Club “Desna” was training, that performed in the premier-league of Ukraine. On 11th of March the enemy attacked with 8 missiles each weighing 500 kgs… The Stadium ceased to exist”.
We also visited one of the landfill, where recruits are practicing in an environment, as close as possible to a real one. Talks with military personnel provided an opportunity to share experience and achievements, as many of our soldiers completed training abroad.
In Lviv our guests visited Medical centers, where wounded soldiers ungergo their treatment and rehabilitation. One of the institutions we have visited, was the National Rehabilitation Center “Nezlamny”.
In this center we met Iryna Zaslavets, Director of Development of the First Medical Association of Lviv, Head of the “Nezlamny” project and wounded veterans, undergoing treatment.
Each veteran expressed sincere gratitude to foreign colleagues for their support. From their side, foreign guests noted that it is important for them that veterans of the US and Europe unite, had the opportunity to communicate and feel the joint unity and support.
Foreign veterans once again expressed their admiration for their colleagues - the Ukrainian military, as well as for the courage and endurance of civilians. And we sincerely thank you for your support and help in our fight for freedom.
Expressing our gratitude and thanks to our partners:
The BLUE BIRDS Charitable Fund of Chernihiv
Prosthetics, orthotics and rehabilitation centers "Without limits"
