Ukraine War Veterans Forgotten and Shunned

On a freezing drizzly day in central Kyiv, Evhen Lomsky hobbled uneasily on crutches near a subway exit wearing a sign that read: "I'm starving."

The bearded 48-year-old war veteran, who has lost his right leg below the knee, hails from Mariupol, a Russian-speaking southeastern city where he worked at a steel plant.

He volunteered in 2015, became a combat engineer, and "was married to the army for 10 years" until stepping on a landmine on September 17, 2023 in the Donetsk region.

Evhen was discharged in mid-July.