Military serviceman Artem Moroz: "Two and half liters of blood were infused into me. I don’t know how I survived"
Before the full-scale invasion, Artem Moroz worked as a civil engineer. Together with his wife, he raised two children. He went in for sports. He did not stop training even after the injury, due to which he lost both legs. This happened in September 2022 in the Kherson region. And in half a year, Artem ran the Boston Marathon with prostheses.
After returning home after prosthetics and rehabilitation in America, he continues to run in Kyiv. He is also dancing and diving. He drives a car. He works. But he does not leave the service - he was recently transitioned from his 206th battalion of the Territorial Defense to the headquarters of the 241st Brigade.
- Even before this transition, I visited the boys in hospitals. It was precisely for this activity of mine that a position was invented: social support for the wounded. That is, I am officially going now, - he tells me.
- How do these meetings take place?
- I just go to the ward, joke, troll the boys. I say: "Well, what? When do we go to the trenches?". At first, they think: "What kind of pushy person has come?" And then they lower their eyes, look at my feet and realize that I can afford to joke like that. Psychological support is extremely important to them. I remember how the first months were extremely difficult. You are all covered with blood and stitches. Fragments are extracted and removed from your body. You do not understand what awaits you tomorrow, how will you live at all? Now I go into the ward and say: "Guys, I'm already running, dancing, swimming, doing my business. Although a year ago he was lying in bed the same way." At first, they looked at me like an alien.
- Psychologists should deal with this issue.
- Before I was injured, I did not understand who it was and why they were needed. And when I talked in the Irpin hospital, I saw that there are very excellent psychiatrists and psychologists. Such powerful support. But no psychologist will provide information based on his own example. And you look at me and you understand: life goes on! I don't even have to say anything. I went to the ward, the wounded were under painkillers, they didn't realize where they were, what's happened to them? Next to his wife in shock. I say: "Girls, they are alive, and thank God! And the rest - look at me!" And it was a load off their mind. Because it is very difficult for everyone.
- You came to our meeting by car. Did you learn to drive in a new way?
- No. I was given manual steering. It stuck twice, causing me to get into an accident. Now I ride on ordinary pedals. We need a car with active cruise control. I'm trying to figure something out with it, because it's a little difficult right now.
- You started dancing already with prostheses. Where did such a desire come from?
- We were invited to an event in support of the wounded and the Armed Forces. We came and watched the play. Then I subscribed to the dance studio page. I asked the director: "Can I try?". He replied: "Of course! I'll find you a coach". Just so you understand: I'm wooden to the waist, I've never danced. For me, eurhythmics is the highest mathematics. I am a civil engineer. I can build something. And here are the dances! We started practicing. My coach Polina, I think, was more worried than I was. But everything worked out for us.
- You already had a public speech.
- I am not afraid to speak in public. I have nothing to be ashamed of. When we were coming, Polina said: "Everyone will cry." My wife filmed the performance. The presenter asks everyone to stand up. The wife then said: "A girl at the next table was wondering why everyone was standing up. Then I shoot a video, watch it - she cries." There were such emotions (smiles. - O.M.). My leg will heal a little now and we will continue dancing.
- What will make it heal? What happened?
- I have been stamping it long enough a little and blistered my leg. I'm running around like crazy.
- So you need to reduce physical activity?
- I don't need to do crazy loads. And I can't do that. The schedule is as follows: hospitals, work, dancing, running and so on.
- As far as I know, you run every Sunday.
- Yes, in Natalka Park. But it's already cold. We need to think about something – to look for some kind of indoor stadium.
- You started running two months after installing prostheses and even participated in the Boston Marathon...
- Yes. I had Ukrainian prostheses, which we did not have time to complete at that time. A week after I got to the States, we just started prosthetics. I walked 200-300 meters in the Central Park with Ukrainian prostheses. And then in April, he ran on training prostheses at the Boston Marathon. Nadiia, a girl volunteer from the foundation, had to push me in a wheelchair. But I put her on it and pushed her. Those emotions cannot be expressed in words and compared to something! It was something from the series if Putin died. Then there was the run in Chicago at the end of June. I already ran there with running prostheses.
- Where did you get your physical and moral strength?
- When I was in the Odesa hospital a month after the injury, the wonderful doctor Ozhynov Yevgen Yuriiovych came in and said: "You have to run in half a year!" I was lying then. My legs were still covered in blood, shrapnel, with bandages. For some reason, I remembered this Boston Marathon. I picked up the phone, read it, and saw that it was scheduled for April 17 next year. Just in six months! And it became my dream. When my wife was looking for prosthetics abroad, she wrote everywhere that I had such a dream. Nadiia saw it, also got excited about and responded. That's how I got to the United States for prosthetics.
- How did people react to you? And how is it now?
- I don't care. People have asked me how I feel when people look at me. I say that it doesn't bother me at all. I was honored to defend Ukraine. Who will tell me what?!
- Obviously, there will be even more people on prostheses (Artem nods. - O.M.), because the war is not over and it is not known how long it will last...
- Until Putin dies!
- And that is not a fact. The problem is not only him. Our military continues to be wounded. At first, their relatives do not know where to run, what to do. Your wife dealt with this issue, wrote letters abroad because you have a difficult case...
- Two limbs were amputated below the knees. It is more difficult when the leg is completely missing - below the groin.
- Is it better to go abroad for prosthetics or to have it done in Ukraine?
- It all depends on the degree of amputation. If above the knee, abroad they are most often placed with electronics, which helps to throw the leg forward when walking. If only the foot is missing, in Ukraine, prosthetics are performed in such a way that a person will pass by you, and you will not even know that he or she is with a prosthesis. I have a heavier case, so you can see for yourself. (Takes off the prosthesis - O.M.).
Look, here is the lock (shows - O.M.).
There are three main types of prostheses: on locks, vacuum and osseointegration, when the prosthesis is implanted directly into the bone itself. There is a side effect – in a few years, not everything may be very smooth, and there will be a need for a second operation.
- Do you also need to service yours?
- The lower part is almost eternal. But the upper one dries out a little. From six months to a year, you need to go and rework. It will take a couple of weeks (Artem puts on a prosthesis. -O.M.).
- Do you need to go to America or can you do it in Ukraine as well?
- It is very difficult for me to fit the part.
- You took off the prosthesis so quickly and put it on.
- Everything is simple here. Just like shoes.
- How do you choose it, by the way?
- This is my second pair of sneakers. I wear into holes the first ones. My wife and I went and picked them up so that they were very light and with the flatter foot possible.
- You can't try it on, can you?
- I have measurements: the insole is 26.5 centimeters. I have a lot of beautiful shoes left from the pre-war period. However, for each, it is necessary to adjust the prosthesis – the angle of inclination. But, in fact, this is all - such trifles.
- Which make up your life now.
"But you don't take off your shoes." I came home, took it off, sat in a chair and that's it. At home, I don't actually wear prostheses. I just rest.
- What kind of load can be given? How long can a person stay on prostheses?
- It happens like this: I put it on in the morning, went to brush my teeth, and took them off in the evening: in the shower and in bed.
- And how do you feel when you are on them all the time?
- It's growing. It's already like its own. In everyday life, it's more a matter of habit.
- I know that you have phantom pains. Under what circumstances do they occur?
- At any time for any stimulus: for example, the weather, any emotions - both negative and positive, a little nervous - one hundred percent. Phantoms used to be 24/7. Now it just "shoots" from time to time.
- How do they appear? Is it pain?
- It is a sharp pain.
- How to save yourself?
- By no means. You need to get over this moment. Over time, it just passes. The body has to get used to the absence of what you have had all your life.
- Was it possible for you to save at least one leg from amputation after being wounded?
- I really, really hoped that my left leg would be saved. But it didn't work out.
- Did you have a long evacuation?
-Not at all. I had a walkie-talkie. I called for evacuation. The mortars responded. They arrived in 20-25 minutes, although each of them then seemed like an eternity. Then we drove through the fields for about an hour to the hospital. We were about 50 kilometers from Mykolaiv.
- Have you been to the turnstiles?
- With tourniquets and body armor. If he hadn't been, I wouldn't be sitting here with you now. My body armor covered my body up to my lower back. The back of the jacket was covered in holes, and below the waist it was covered in debris.
-You've lost a lot of blood.
- In Mykolaiv, I was infused with two liters of blood, and in Odesa in three days – twice more 250 grams. A total of two and a half liters. I don't know how I survived. Probably, due to the fact that he did not have bad habits, he was in good physical shape. Just so you understand, I was conscious. I lost it only on the operating table when they put a mask on me – they gave me anesthesia. I even remember the nurses taking off my jacket before.
- I'm sorry. I understand that it is difficult to remember such things.
- Yes, it was hard, but it was okay. You know, I had two crews during the evacuation: mortars and Poles. One of them is Damian Duda, who has been evacuating the wounded since 2015. By the way, the president recently presented him with an order. He had an action camera, and he filmed my evacuation.
- The injury occurred in the Kherson region...
From Chornobaivka – 13-16 kilometers. It rained for a week, and then the weather was as good as today (sunny - O.M.). The rotation was supposed to take place early in the morning. New guys came from a neighboring village, and those who were at the first line of demarcation had to leave. Since it was clear, I asked the guys to give me the Mavic. At this moment of replacing one with another, the shelling began. The 120th mine was the first to hit. Three people were killed and four were injured: three seriously, one light. As I said, I called an evacuation on the walkie-talkie. The katsaps saw from the drone that they had hit. The shelling continued. There were seven or eight more hits. I was lying, I was covered with the ground. Then, when Olesia (wife – O.M.) came to me in Odesa, she was still pulling black soil out of my ear.
- You said you went to Mavic. Were you engaged in aerial reconnaissance?
- No, no. I am the commander of the rifle division. We were in close proximity to the enemy – on the front line. Then, thanks to the drone, they detected us in the yellow zone - one and a half kilometers to the first demarcation line.
- You were wounded in September, and two months later Kherson was liberated...
- The most interesting thing is that our battalion was withdrawn from Kherson a week before its liberation and transferred to the Belarusian border. We were in the Kherson region for eight months and were transferred under such an event. It didn't work out very well. But orders are not discussed.
- How did you feel when you learned about the liberation of Kherson?
- I felt proud of each of us. As well as during the liberation of Kharkiv and the Kyiv region before that.
- In one of your interviews, you said that you were preparing for war. They even collected all the documents for admission to the Territorial Defense. All that's left is to take a photo, which you planned for February 24 last year...
- When I came to the Territorial Defense with the whole package of documents – certificates from a narcologist, psychologist, tests, labor records, job descriptions, and so on, they looked at me like a madman: "Who are you, warrior?! " (smiles - O.M.). Indeed, I didn't have time to take a photo on February 23, so I planned it for the next day. And then it started. First, I arrived at the Solomianskyi collection point. They promised to call me back. I returned home. At that time, there was a Russian landing forces in Hostomel. Tanks were parked near my house. I'm going to the tankers. They say, "Get out of here!" Our houses are the first from the forest. There would be nothing left of them. We left for the Makariv district. We realized that we had nothing. On the 25th, I went to Kyiv, took all the food and the cat. Some bridges have already been blown up. I was going back through Bilohorodka. Three days later, we were surrounded. I saw our people firing fagg#rts on Buzova (a village in the Bucha district of the Kyiv region - O.M.). It was a fireworks show! What can I tell you... That's where our planes crashed. It all happened in front of my eyes. I took my son home and went there to the place. I thought it was f#ggarts`. But it turned out to be ours. Two pilots were killed. The Armed Forces of Ukraine found the documents. The planes flew too low so as not to be spotted or shot down. One "passed" and the other touched the wires.
- Did you get a call from the Territorial Defense Forces, as promised?
- No. We were surrounded in the Makariv district. We returned home. "Grads" were fired from our village. I worked from our village. I understood that they would not enter Kyiv, but there were constant strikes with consequences. One woman's leg was torn off. We went to the region for the second time. But I went home every day. My friend and neighbor is a doctor. I took him to the hospital, where he operated on military and civilians. For me, he is a hero.
When the f#ggarts began to leave, and I was calm about my family, I went to the Territorial Defense again. Ten days later we were already in Mykolaiv.
- And what about education, training?
-Everything was already there, in the trenches. Do you know what kind of guys we have? Most of those who are still in the battalion are programmers, cameramen, directors, bank employees, and photographers. Some officers hid their military service record cards because they were too much. The major dug trenches with us for two months, and we didn't even know about it! Of course, he was then taken to the battalion headquarters. In general, when we arrived in Mykolaiv, the company had places for 90 people, and we were twice as many. Just so you understand, in order to get into the army, I threw a party (smiles - O.M.).
- They didn't want to take you, did they?
- Of course! It was an overreach.
- And now, on the contrary, there is a shortage...
- Because there are so many wounded. And people are a bit tired of the war. But there are no other options because it continues. But there are no other options, because it continues.
- And a difficult winter awaits us.
- One hundred per cent! But I liked the president's statement that we defended ourselves last winter, but this winter we will respond. I am sure that the thermal power plants of the Kursk and even Moscow regions are already "on notice".
- Can such an answer of ours "sober up" the Russians?
- Maybe! Muscovites are not accepted into the army. They don't have a crisis. And Moscow would just need to be shaken a couple of times in weather of about minus 20. I would do so. Frosts in Ukraine and Russia are different. It's colder in them. Therefore, we must not stop there. I would still "dismantle" all the oil refineries. To one! Blow everything up. All stocks that are available at the bases will run out within two to three weeks. Then they will feel it to the fullest. It's war! And these are not civilian objects, but legitimate military targets. Not kindergarten. Not the logistics of Nova Poshta.
- In their news about this incident with Nova Poshta, they said that they had destroyed a military warehouse. Propaganda is in full swing.
- Of course, it works! That's why we have to keep fucking them up.
- Under the circumstances we are talking about, can the Russians oppose the war?
- No! They definitely can't. There is a herd with propaganda-washed brains. I know because I have relatives with whom I communicated before the war. I don't even want to talk about it now.
- Did you communicate with them at the beginning of the full-scale invasion? Did they say anything?
- They said the following: "Ukraine is Russia's sphere of influence".
Are they of Russian origin or Ukrainians?
- Ukrainians. But the fourth generation was born there. By the way, more than 80 percent of Ukrainians are in Tiumen. They made those oil and gas refineries. Katsaps, in principle, are not capable of this. And hands too. But what are we even talking about?! They're boozing there all the time.
- And they hate us.
- Because we live better than them. They, possessing rich natural resources, are in fact the poorest country. In fact, Russia should have become Qatar. And there are ten people who have everything, and the rest are told that the West is to blame for their poverty.
- With whom they are at war here in Ukraine.
- Yes. Our men are no longer there – they killed everyone. Only Poles fight here. Don't you listen to Skabeeva? (smiles - O.M.).
- I rarely watch something like this in order to have a general idea. Of the latter, only about "Nova Poshta".
- I am now building the same warehouses. These f#ggarts are shelling objects such as the one in Kharkiv, and in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa regions. They look at Google maps where they are, and they shoot there on purpose.
- By the way, how did you get back to work?
- I flew back from America and started work the next day. The first week was hard. Seven hours of time difference.
- Was it just the time zone change that made it difficult for you?
- Oh yes! I am a leader, I work as a chairman. I came to the construction site, handed out the tasks, then checked the implementation. The most important thing is organization. As you do it, everything will work.I went this morning, explained the tasks, everyone knows what to do, wrote a report to the owner and the process is underway. And I also enrolled in postgraduate studies at the Dnipro State Academy of Construction and Architecture (smiling. - O.M.) on construction organization and management.
- You are also a student!
- Yeah. I didn't even come to my senses. I have to do everything. I have two children.
I need to do everything to put them on their feet. Therefore, never rest. The daughter is in the ninth grade, and the son went to the first grade. Nastia is studying Chinese. She wanted it herself. I don't know what you can understand in those hieroglyphs there (smiles. - O.M.). This is in besides to English. Dad's pride! Our little one is a hurricane! (smiles. - O.M.). They are the biggest motivation for me.
Olha Moskaliuk, Censor.NET
Photo: author's and provided by Artem Moroz
Video: provided by Artem Moroz
