Participant of the regional competition “Young Person of the Year - 2025”
in the nomination “Unconquered: Strength of Spirit and Victory of Donetsk Region”
Vladyslav YESHCHENKO
I am Vladyslav Yeschenko, born on the Independence Day of Ukraine in 1998. A volunteer with the separate 104th Bakhmut Defense Battalion, a military sapper, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, he lost his sight while performing his military duty. Founder and CEO of the Charitable Foundation “Let's See the Victory”, blogger with a media pseudonym samurai on the way.
He was awarded the Order “For Courage” of the III degree.
In 2014, due to the occupation of Horlivka, I was forced to leave my hometown with my family. I got a construction job as a plasterer and plasterboard installer, dreaming of returning home.
Later, in 2021, he found his calling in humanitarian demining, working as a deminer for the HALO Trust organization in Donbas. At the same time, he studied at the Ukrainian Engineering and Pedagogical Academy and planned to enter the Kharkiv National Air Force University named after Ivan Kozhedub in September 2022.
With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he decided to voluntarily defend his native land. On March 4, 2022, he reported to the military enlistment office, hiding his intentions from his family, and joined the engineer platoon of the separate 104th Battalion of Territorial Defense of Bakhmut (military unit A7270). During the demining of PFM-1 anti-personnel mines in Bohdanivka, near Bakhmut, one munition self-destructed, detonating all 84 mines that had been moved to a specially designated area for controlled elimination. This was purely an accident, not a mistake or negligence. The powerful explosion of the ammunition right next to my face resulted in a severe injury that left me with both eyes and almost complete hearing loss.
After ten days in a coma, when I regained consciousness, I learned what had happened to me. I heard that such injuries are not treated, so I had to find a way out. My own difficult path of recovery, which included a long collection of documents and search for rehabilitation programs, turned out to be extremely difficult. When I realized that I was not the only one who had lost his eyesight as a result of the injury, I began to support other injured comrades. I shared my own experience, advised them and told them where to go for help.
This understanding inspired me to create the charitable organization “Let's See Victory”. Today, we provide assistance to military and civilians who have lost all or part of their eyesight as a result of mine injuries. We actively use social media to spread information about our new social projects and our own experiments. My activities are aimed at disseminating information, raising funds, and helping my fellow soldiers restore their vision or undergo rehabilitation. This is my story today.
In 2023, the Ukrainian online cinema Kyivstar TV released the documentary film Realities of War. Seeing Victory" was released. This is a long documentary interview with a sapper who lost his eyesight as a result of a mine-blast injury and founded the Charitable Foundation “Let's See the Victory”.
"Every Ukrainian has an invincibility inside. I, a Samurai, have a way. I went to war at the age of 23. I was wounded and lost my sight and hearing at the age of 24. I came out of a coma and regained consciousness on August 19, and on August 24 I celebrated my birthday in intensive care, alone, in complete darkness. I could not see or hear anyone...
Today I am 26 years old and the CEO of the charity foundation “Let's See Victory”, which employs veterans with disabilities. As long as I had my sight, I did not see as many opportunities and prospects as I did after losing it. Everyone today decides for themselves whether they exist or live. If you are living, you have to work for someone or something. The choice is yours.
