Ukrainian soldiers greeted like heroes at the
Minneapolis Saint Paul airport from the front lines.
They have arrived in America to take a step forward to
full mobility. With their morale boosted. They make
their way from the airport straight to the protest
foundation, a nearby prosthetic clinic as the war
overwhelms Ukraine's medical field. The Minnesota
nonprofit has been flying in groups of Ukrainians in
need of new limbs. Each time we see these people, we
need to save them. Thank you for your service. Thank
you for those peaceful skies that we have above us on
the eve of an intense three week program protest, Co
founder and chief medical Officer Yakov Gradin helps
the soldiers put on compression socks to control
swelling. We have four minutes to string it in the next
morning. Gradin his seven Children and other staff
members start building from scratch new legs and arms
customized for each soldier taking it off and start
grinding and putting it when Russia invaded his native
country. Gradin who has been a prosthetic in America
for 15 years, felt an intense desire to help. I start
to like, ok, God help me to understand what I can do in
this. What started as a small operation from its
kitchen is now a state of the art clinic, including a
gym for physical therapy. The foundation which relies
on donations, pays for everything, travel, lodging and
the entire rehab treatment. It's not about just
prosthetics. It's to show love, it's to show care. The
new group of soldiers the 12th to arrive at the
foundation from Ukraine include men with harrowing war
stories. 30 year old Hiroi Vorobyov tells us he lost
his leg in the March during the brutal battle for th
city of Bahut Grain. One of the doctor's daughters
helps us translate. He had a lot of surgeries and with
every surgery, he would look down at his leg to make
sure it's still there because at 30 years old who wants
to be left without a Raquel is only 16, but like her
siblings, she works hard to help her dad and cheer up
the soldiers. I sometimes I can't do anything but I
just try to show them a little bit of light. Another
soldier. 35 year old Dimitri Stari cov tells us he
stepped on a Russian mine in the Donetsk region. Stari
cov says he is thinking of going back to the front
lines after the rehab program. According to Gradin, 2
of Ukrainian soldiers treated here including this
sniper go straight back to combat when it's hard. I
compare myself to those soldiers that on frontline
since its creation. In 2022 the protests foundation ha
spent roughly $1.7 million fitting around 90 Ukrainians
with new prosthetic devices, most of them soldiers, but
also Children who lost limbs to Russian rockets. I will
say that one thing to work with adult soldiers and
another thing when we are working these kids and it's
very upsetting to see, but that gives us more drive
after a well deserved lunch break. It's time for some
soldiers to try their brand new prosthetics and for the
first time in months to comfortably walk again for the
next three weeks, Grain and his staff will make
constant adjustments to the soldiers, new limbs.
Meanwhile, the soldiers will train hard to build
strength and stability. Once back in Ukraine, they will
have access to a new satellite protest clinic here i
the US Grain and his family will inevitably miss the
You meet strangers at airport and in each week they
become like your. But soon enough, another group migh
arrive as Gradin puts it until Vladimir Putin decides
to stop killing and enduring Ukrainians, his family
everyone at the foundation will be ready to take in
more amputees and help them heal Ben Sri News, Oakdale,
Minnesota. You that