“I Opened My Eyes and Couldn’t See My Legs”

In April 2022, Yana Stepanenko and her family were caught under Russian shelling in Kramatorsk. Russian forces struck the city's railway station, where civilians were being evacuated, with a guided Tochka-U missile. That day, Yana’s mother lost her leg, and Yana lost both of hers.

Yana received her first walking and running prosthetics in the United States. After undergoing rehabilitation abroad, she returned to Ukraine. By the fall of 2023, Yana participated in the Lviv Half Marathon. As she was still learning to use her running prosthetics, she completed a symbolic 70-meter distance alongside other patients from the UNBROKEN Rehabilitation Center.

In April 2024, Yana ran a 5-kilometer course at the Boston Marathon on her prosthetics, aiming to raise funds for a prosthetic limb for military serviceman Oleksandr Riasnyi, who lost his leg in the war. She successfully raised 15 thousand US dollars, covering the full cost of the sports prosthetic.

Yana shared her thoughts on what a just peace for Ukraine means to her: “For me, just peace means being able to freely and fearlessly visit my hometown of New York in Donetsk Oblast, go to my house, visit my school, and feel all the joy of returning home. Peace is not waking up every night from alarms and not fearing the sound of explosions outside your window that come closer every time. A just peace means all my friends and acquaintances returning to their homes, patients at UNBROKEN embracing their loved ones and comrades, and all of us living without fear, dreaming again, and building our future. I deeply hope these dreams will finally become a reality.”