KRYVYI RIH — Iryna Nakonechna lost her left leg and her husband, Serhii Nakonechnyi, in a Russian missile attack on March 5, 2025, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. Serhii died the next day in a hospital.

In the two months following the attack, Nakonechna underwent two surgeries each week. By May 2025, she was able to sit up again. She removed furniture, clothes, trinkets, and photographs from her home, keeping only a portrait of herself and her husband. She also cut off her dark wavy hair, adopting a pixie haircut.

Nakonechna now walks with a limp and uses a cane while learning to trust her prosthetic limb that reaches her upper thigh. The attack also left her with limited arm mobility, making it difficult to lift heavy objects. She cannot lift her 2-year-old grandson, Tymofii, due to her injuries. Tymofii placed a sticker of a cartoon capybara wearing a prosthetic leg on her prosthesis, and she left it there.

Nakonechna knits toy capybaras through Superhumans, a modern war-trauma center specializing in prosthetics and rehabilitation. The capybara has become an unofficial symbol among Ukrainian amputees; during the war, veterans began placing capybara toys and stickers on their prosthetic limbs to put strangers at ease. Nakonechna wears bold red cat-eye glasses and continues this practice.

She has weekly hourlong rehabilitation sessions with physical therapist Anastasiia Stetsenko, who is helping her learn to walk without a cane—a process that requires building both physical strength and confidence. During one session, when asked to squat, Nakonechna said, “I will respond as my grandson would. Just no.” On another occasion, she told Stetsenko, “You are a demon.” She then joked, “This feels like an extreme sport.”

Nakonechna invited her 77-year-old mother, who has dementia, to move in with her after the attack. She said, “I had to get rid of everything from the past. And focus on living my life, even if it was half the life I had before.” She added, “The hardest thing was accepting myself with these injuries, wounds that are not only physical.” She also said, “Coming to terms with how much my life has changed has been very difficult,” and, “I never got to say goodbye. I wasn’t even at the funeral.”

The exact number of war amputees in Ukraine is unknown but continues to rise due to landmines, artillery, missile, and drone strikes. In response, rehabilitation and prosthetics services in Ukraine have expanded.