“Mum with a metal leg”: the story of severely injured Svitlana Puhachova from Nikopol becomes part of the Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation
19.08.2026
For Svitlana Puhachova from Nikopol, December 26, 2024 was supposed to be just another ordinary day at work. She simply arrived at the city market, and moments later found herself at the epicentre of an explosion. A russian FPV drone struck a public place where hundreds of people were gathered. Svitlana was severely injured and lost a leg. The woman shared her story with the Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.
“I was the closest to the epicentre. It happened about a metre away from me. My leg was torn off instantly. I also sustained an injury to my right limb. I used to say that it was the safest place because there were usually so many people there. And I believed they would never do something like targeting the market itself,” says Svitlana.
Her family was in Nikopol when the full-scale invasion began. For a long time, they stayed at home despite the constant shelling. But after her severe injury, Svitlana was confined to bed for almost four months. The hardest part was not only for her, but also for her loved ones – her husband and their 11-year-old daughter.
“When she came to see me in hospital, we tried not to let her realise that my leg was gone. But then she sat where my leg should have been and burst into tears. I told her that I would still be the same mum, only with a metal leg. That calmed her down, and she accepted it,” says Svitlana.
When Svitlana was discharged from hospital, another blow followed: during yet another attack, a fragment from an enemy drone hit her flat. At that moment, Svitlana was at home with her husband and daughter.
“I stepped out onto the balcony, and had just come back into the flat when there was an explosion behind the building. We were lucky again. A piece of shrapnel flew exactly into the spot where I had been standing. Right where my head had been. If I had stayed there for another five minutes, I wouldn’t be talking to you now,” says Maksym, Svitlana’s husband.
After several strikes near their home, the family was forced to leave Nikopol, which at that time was under intense shelling by russian forces. Svitlana needed to focus on her recovery and learn to live with a prosthetic leg.
Recently, she completed a rehabilitation programme organised by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation at a health resort in Zakarpattia. It became an important milestone in her recovery. After the amputation, Svitlana refused to let it stop her. She began exercising regularly, joined a swimming pool, and later took part in a sports competition in Kyiv. There, Svitlana won her first award.
“I’m so proud of my mum. She’s amazing and incredibly strong. I love her so much,” says Anastasiia, Svitlana’s daughter.
Watch the story here: https://bit.ly/4giLZcN
The collection of Museum of Civilian Voices founded by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation now contains more than 145,000 stories about the war. It is the world’s largest collection of testimonies from civilians affected by russia’s war against Ukraine.
