JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Leonid Ovdiiuk, a Ukrainian soldier, wishes more than anything he could be in Ukraine fighting for his country. Instead, he's at Brooks Rehabilitation rehabbing a spinal cord injury he received after stepping on an IED while fighting the Russians in 2020.
Ovdiiuk spoke to us through his translator, Dr. Michael Samotowka, Trauma Medical Director at Memorial Hospital, whose family is from Ukraine.
Ovdiiuk and his commander were on patrol when they stepped on the IED in May of 2020. His commander died. Ovdiiuk was in a coma for 14 days with a severe spinal cord injury.
Shrapnel went through Ovdiiuk's head, neck, chest and abdomen.
"Leonid was thrown up into the air and severely injured," Samotowka said. "He remembers everything. He was still conscious for about three hours. He was talking to his soldiers and giving them orders on what to do before he was pulled out to a field hospital."
"We were unofficially fighting the Russians," Ovdiiuk said. "That’s really who was behind all of this, and it has been going on for six years."
The nonprofit Revived Soldiers Ukraine helped move Ovdiiuk to Orlando for treatment, then to Brooks Rehabilitation in October.
Ovdiiuk said he never expected this is what things would come to.
"Everything has gone out of control this last week," Ovdiiuk said. "The history of Ukraine and Russia to this point has been intertwined. It’s a different story going forward. Russia attacked Ukraine senselessly. It’s a very aggressive attack."
Ovdiiuk said he tries to talk to his two young children and his wife, who are in hiding in Ukraine, every night.
“My wife and children are in a very safe place. It’s quiet where they are right now, but I talked to my friends across eastern Ukraine and it’s horrible what’s going on there right now, what they’re seeing," he said.
His friends and fellow soldiers on the front lines keep him updated and send him videos of what's going on in his country.
“The whole village, our division and everybody there is fighting against the Russians. The Russians fired into a kindergarten, a children’s school, they’ve shot innocent civilians …. Horrible atrocities," Ovdiiuk said.
“I don’t really sleep well at night. I’m always scared and nervous about what I see going on there. My body is here, but my spirit is there in Ukraine," he added.
Ovdiiuk said he has a message for the world.
“It’s very hard for my country to stop this aggression. We appreciate anything that people can do morally, ethically, to speak up, financially, whatever they can do to help and stand with us,” he said. “We will never forget this time in history and we will win, and we will have to regroup and regrow and rebirth our country."
He also has a message for Vladimir Putin.
"I wish him death," Ovdiiuk said.
Ovdiiuk said he wanted to tell his story because he wants "the whole world to know the truth about what's happening in Ukraine, and to please help us as much as they can."
Ovdiiuk works out eight hours a day Monday through Friday at Brooks, then walks at home. Samotowka said he also works out on weekends on his own.
“I want to return to as close as I can to normal and I want to get back in the Army," Ovdiiuk said.
Samotowka said Ovdiiuk will receive extensive arm surgery to hopefully regain function in Boston at the end of March. He'll then come back to Brooks Rehabilitation for more treatment.