May 19 — Oleksandr Dashko and Ivan Tarn climbed 5,280 meters to the Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas. Both of them served in Ukrainian army, in special intelligence units called “Kraken” and “Artan” respectively — and both of them lost a leg in combat.
They climbed as part of a charity project called “Limitless” — it aims to draw attention to challenges faced by veterans with amputations and raise money for helping Ukraine’s veterans fight phantom pain. Phantom pain is “when you don’t have a limb, but it hurts as if you do,” Dashko and Tarn said, adding that some veterans can suffer from it for years.
“Many people did not believe in this project or in me, because I have a very large amputation. No matter who I told about this adventure, everybody told me: ‘Even people with two legs don’t climb up there, and you don’t have a leg anyway, you’ll ruin your health even more — stay away.’ So it was hard for me, but other guys with amputations should see this climb. They should see that there is life after amputation,” said Dashko.
Tetiyana Yalovchak and Taras Pozdnyi, professional climbers, escorted Dashko and Tarn to the mountains.
Oleksandr Dashko is the world vice champion in para-jiu-jitsu. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, he was a civilian and then volunteered to join the army — he was injured on a mine and lost his leg while fighting in Kharkiv Oblast.
Ivan Tarn joined the army in March 2022 and has become a cofounder of the Artan special unit. He lost his leg in the fight for Bakhmut.
Read more
- Ukrainian champion wins high jump on first attempt at Tokyo Continental World Athletic Tour Gold
Gwara is a Kharkiv-based independent newsroom that works to tell you about our vibrant home while it resists Russia’s war of aggression and endures through its consequences. Please, consider buying our journalists a coffee or subscribing to our Patreon to support our reporting long-term.
Subscribe to news from Kharkiv, Ukraine
Most important stories from the frontline region
