On November 6, a milestone event took place — not only for our foundation, but for the entire prosthetics field in Ukraine. Our partner, Medical Center Orthotics & Prosthetics (MCOP), officially opened its Ukrainian branch in Kyiv!
The highlight of the event was the announcement of $11.6 million grant support from the Government of Iceland and Embla Medical for our Prosthetics of Ukrainians program, with 33% of the funding provided by the Icelandic government.
The grant will be implemented over the next three years by Future for Ukraine Foundation together with MCOP Ukraine. This support will enable providing lower-limb prosthetics to 1,000 Ukrainian veterans and civilians.
During the announcement, Sveinn Sölvason, CEO of Embla Medical, emphasized that the company’s goal is to help build a more sustainable prosthetics system in Ukraine.
He noted that the opening of MCOP Ukraine is an important step forward:
“Together with our partners, we are creating long-term potential to deliver much-needed solutions in restoring mobility to Ukrainians affected by the war.”
For more than 20 years, the American Prosthetics Center MCOP has provided advanced, functional prosthetic care to civilians and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Since the beginning of the russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, MCOP has helped over 100 Ukrainian veterans with complex limb loss cases for free, at its own cost, and within the charitable initiatives framework.
Today, this global leader opens its doors in Ukraine to help severely wounded Ukrainian defenders right here, at home.
Olena Nikolaienko, President of FFU in the USA, congratulated the partners on the opening and shared the story of Oleksandr Chaika, which marked the beginning of cooperation between FFU and MCOP:
Olena Nikolaienko, President of FFU in the USABecause of a high amputation, doctors told Sasha he would never walk again. His pregnant wife, Anna, knocked on every door looking for help and reached out to our foundation. At that time — over three years ago — we were a small team, but we started searching for specialists abroad. That’s how I contacted Michael Corcoran, sent him Sashko’s photo, and he replied: ‘You can bring him here — in a month, he’ll be walking.’We then realized there are many people like Oleksandr — those who are told they’ll never walk again and left alone with that verdict. So we began fundraising and sending veterans abroad for prosthetics.Today, Sasha runs two acrobatics studios where over a hundred children train — after being told he’d never walk. MCOP is a center with a profound mission — to make people feel they deserve to live fully again. I truly hope Ukraine will one day have a network of such centers, giving people from all regions access to prosthetics and recovery of this level
We sincerely celebrate the opening of MCOP Ukraine and wish our partners continued growth and success!
We also extend heartfelt gratitude to the Government of Iceland and Embla Medical for their trust in implementing this grant support.
It is a great honor for us to turn international solidarity into real help for Ukrainians!
Together, we restore people's mobility and confidence — step by step.
