“I love my country. Whatever obstacles I’m facing, I’ll overcome them in order to defend Ukraine. [My country] put me on my feet helping to get prosthetics, she offered me a pension, moderate as it is, but still,' Vasil Shtefko told The Daily Beast
decided to invade his country in February. The fact that Shtefko is 55 years old and lost both of his legs nearly 20 years ago did not stop him.
Throughout the region, the brigade—known as the “Transcarpathian Legion”—enjoys legendary status. The brigade already has an indelible place in Ukraine’s history.In 2014, the brigade was at the core of the defense of Luhansk Airport, and in 2015 it fought in Debaltseve, one of the biggestUkraine’s eastern region.
It’s hardly surprising: Transcarpathia is a mountainous region separated from the rest of Ukraine by the bend of the East Carpathians, while the traditions of its military mountaineering are rooted in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Shtefko, a car mechanic, lost both his legs at the age of 38 and has since relied on prosthetic legs. After joining protesters at the Maidan in Kyiv in 2014—a wave of demonstrations that ended up with deadly clashes with the security forces—he was rejected by the brigade due to his disability, despite having completed military service in Kharkiv in the Soviet era.