London Marathon 2023: Ukrainian soldier who lost leg in explosion to take on challenge

“Running this marathon will be my chance to change my mindset from ‘I cannot’ to ‘I can’,” said Roman Kashpur.

The 26-year-old Ukrainian serviceman, who lost the lower part of his leg stepping on a landmine, is set to honour his homeland by taking on the 26.2 mile London Marathon challenge this Sunday (April 23).

Kashpur, who first joined the army at 19, was fitted with a prosthesis after losing his lower right limb in May 2019 while on a reconnaissance mission near the city of Marinka, in eastern Ukraine.

Instead of sinking into despair after his injury, Kashpur vowed to live an even more active life than before his amputation.

After his first prosthesis fitting, he immediately went out for a 50-metre run and he has been running and training ever since.

Four years on, he is set to take on his first ever marathon, running as an ambassador for the Citizen Charity Foundation, a Ukrainian organisation supporting injured servicemen.

“Running this type of marathon, especially with my prosthetic leg, is a big chance for me to face all of my challenges,” Kahspur told LondonWorld, from his home in Kharkiv.

“I would like to run this marathon to give a special message to all soldiers who have been injured during these aggressions that life is going on and you have to stay strong.

“My main objective is to raise funds to support injured and wounded soldiers who need immediate medical help.”

Kashpur will travel to London this week with his wife Yulia, with whom he has two sons, Ivan, eight, and two-year-old Oleksandr.

“It will be my first time to visit the UK and my first ever marathon so I expect this experience to be very powerful,” he said.

During his rehabilitation period, Kahspur started Crossfit training along with his running, taking part in his first competition in 2020.

“My first crossfit competition for adaptive athletes. I won in the pro category,” he said.

“That victory motivated me greatly, and I realised how important it was to open up to people instead of isolating myself, and to be involved in social projects.

“I would like to point out that sport is extremely helpful in the psychological and physical rehabilitation of people whose health was affected by the war.”

In 2021 he took part in the Games for Heroes CrossFit Competition, winning in three categories.

His mission led him to set a Ukrainian national record for “pulling an An-26 aircraft by a person with a disability” — hauling the 16-tonne cargo plane via a harness on his back.

This inspired him to start motivating other seriously injured soldiers.

When Russia launched its full scale invasion on Ukraine last February, Kashpur immediately evacuated his family, but he returned to Kharkiv to serve on the front line.

“During this time I trained different young soldiers to handle the weapons, to hold them, to react,” he explained.

He now concentrates on sport as he believes it is the best way to support and motivate his country and military.

“When we managed to push the enemy back a bit around the Kharkiv region, I decided to return to everyday life

“I got involved with different sports events and shared my story training guys and soldiers.”

On Sunday, he will run the London Marathon to raise funds for British Ukrainian Aid, which has partnered with Citizen to support servicemen with amputations and severe wounds.

“My goal is to raise support to enable supply of state-of-the-art prosthetics, extensive rehabilitation and social support for these Ukrainian heroes,” he said.

“I am trying to show with my own example that an amputation is not a sentence, a prosthesis is not a limitation, and disability is just a record on paper that does not restrict you in any way.”

You can support Roman Kashpur in his London Marathon challenge by donating to British Ukrainian Aid and the Citizen (Gromadyanyn) Charity foundation.