“Robocop” is how 45-year-old defender Mykola Martsun now calls himself. The man was wounded in the Kharkiv region when he and his comrades were holding a position they had captured from the enemy. Mykola’s left arm was cut off by a tank shell. Months of treatment for injuries to his limbs and abdominal cavity – and finally the man received his long-awaited iron limb.

Mykola’s case was not an easy one for prosthetics. He was fitted with a hand, elbow joint and shoulder mounts. The man controls the arm with the help of myoelectric signals from the shoulder muscles. This prosthetics was performed by German specialist Marvin Elsasser as part of a project to train and improve the skills of Ukrainian prosthetists.

Now Mykola is working hard to use the bionic arm he has been dreaming of.

The training is part of the Rehabilitation and Prosthetics for Ukrainians in Ukraine project, which is being implemented through the Ukrainian Rapid Response Fund program, implemented by IREX in Ukraine with support from the U.S. Department of State.