Volodymyr Rukan, a builder, lived in the village of Biliy Kolodyaz in the Kharkiv region. In 2015, the 20-year-old man decided to gain military experience and went on military service to Mariupol.
When the full-scale war began, 27-year-old Volodymyr was already serving in the "Donbas" unit and defending the Donetsk direction. The unit took the position in the village of Solodke in the Donetsk region, and together with a comrade, he stole an armored personnel carrier from the Russians in the middle of the night.
"My comrade said: "You're not thinking of stealing an enemy APC, are you?" I laughed in response: "For us, every day is like a new year!". And I crawled to the russian position, under the APC, opened the hatch. I started it and decided to drive through the fields," recalls Volodymyr.
According to the military, he had no idea where the fields were mined. Volodymyr was guided only by luck and hoped the enemy tank would not follow him because it is difficult to aim at a fast APC with a mortar. That time he was lucky.
On May 3, on a stolen APC, Volodymyr carried out wounded soldiers from firing positions under "Grads" shelling. He was driving across a field when he came across two anti-tank mines.
"It was terrible that when the projectile exploded, the diesel fuel in the APC started to catch fire. Together with my comrade, we started to pull out the wounded guys who could not get out on their own from the APC," says the military.
Volodymyr was diagnosed with numerous burns, injuries to his left foot and a complex arm fracture. He gets treatment in a Cherkasy hospital. It took several months to restore at least 40% of the hand's functionality and the skin's healing process.
At the end of July, Volodymyr underwent another operation to install a metal osteosynthesis system on his foot. Long-term recovery and rehabilitation await Volodymyr: the doctors have forbidden him to stand on his feet for at least five months.
But he is not upset and looking forward to returning to his unit as soon as possible.
The Future for Ukraine Foundation wishes Volodymyr a speedy recovery.
Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!
