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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Emma Graham-Harrison and Artem Mazhulin in Rivne

Brutalised, broken, mended: inside Ukraine’s rehabilitation centre for wounded veterans

Ruslana Kukharevych, a physical therapist, with her patient Oleksandr at a hospital in Rivne, Ukraine.
Ruslana Kukharevych, a physical therapist, with her patient Oleksandr at a hospital in Rivne, Ukraine. Photograph: Anastasia Vlasova/The Observer

Dmytro Polovian laughed as one of his doctors tried to pot a ball but instead sent several ricocheting across the billiard cloth. Even playing from a wheelchair for the first time, Polovian looked set to win.

As the forests of western Ukraine darkened outside the window, for a brief moment the war seemed far away, the patient and medical team just another group of friends relaxing. But it was a carefully planned moment of happiness.

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