Ukrainian veteran in Berlin learns to make prosthetics
Valentyn Melnyk lost his leg to a mine, and is now training as an orthopedic technician to help other war-disabled people in Ukraine.
Valentyn Melnyk lost his leg to a mine, and is now training as an orthopedic technician to help other war-disabled people in Ukraine.
Twenty-four-year-old Ukrainian veteran Valentyn Melnyk, who lost his leg in the war, is undergoing training as an orthopedic technician in Berlin. After completing the training, he plans to return to Kyiv and help other war-disabled soldiers return to active life, as reported by Tagesschau in a detailed feature published on August 16, 2026.
Melnyk was seriously wounded 15 months ago while serving in the Ukrainian army. "I lost my leg when we were returning from a mission and hit a mine," he told Tagesschau. After being wounded, he spent a year in the hospital, and then learned about a project that offers wounded Ukrainian veterans the opportunity to train as orthopedic technicians.
His application was successful, and since May 2026, he has been learning alongside seven other veterans in the workshops of orthopedic master Daniel Koch in Berlin. "I like that there is an opportunity to learn this craft and later return to civilian life and help with everything that supports soldiers," Melnyk said in Ukrainian.
Koch, who has been supporting Ukrainian soldiers who have lost limbs since 2024, emphasizes that the training has a new quality because war veterans like Melnyk get the chance and can help others with a similar fate. "Through the training, he gets the opportunity to start a new life, earn a living, start a family, and help other people," Koch stated.
Berlin's orthopedic facilities work closely with the humanitarian organization "Life Bridge Ukraine," founded in 2022 by Janine von Wolfersdorff. The organization initially ensured that wounded Ukrainian soldiers with amputations were transferred to Berlin, treated, and fitted with prosthetics. "I do this to help these young people return to active life," said von Wolfersdorff.
After two years of efforts and overcoming bureaucratic hurdles, "Life Bridge Ukraine" managed to open a prosthetic center in a municipal hospital in Kyiv in August 2025, with support from the federal state of Berlin, Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko, and private donors. For this center, Berlin's orthopedic companies trained six participants for a year.
The current project, involving ten orthopedic companies from Germany and Poland, is the next step aimed at expanding the Kyiv center. At the same time, construction of another similar facility has begun in Ternopil in western Ukraine, also in a municipal hospital.
Official data on the number of Ukrainian civilian and military casualties who have lost limbs are not available. According to the Berlin Senate office, Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko spoke during a visit to Berlin of an estimated 21,000 amputations per year.
Von Wolfersdorff explains her motivation by a sense of responsibility: "I can do this, we can do this, and from that comes the responsibility to do it. We help these young people who are so seriously injured defending their freedom and homeland. This is close to my heart."
After walking exercises, Melnyk, at a workbench with one of his instructors, pours liquid plastic into a mold resembling a lower leg, from which a prosthetic will be made. Although he initially wanted to become a math and physics teacher, the war interrupted his studies. Now he plans to use the opportunity provided by the training in the orthopedic workshop and, after his stay in Berlin, return to Kyiv and work at the prosthetic center.
