London Marathon 2024: Ukrainian marine who lost arm in mine explosion to take on challenge

A Ukrainian marine soldier who lost his left arm in a mine explosion is set to honour his homeland by taking on the 26.2 mile London Marathon challenge later this month.

Heorhii ‘Gosha’ Roshk, was serving as grenadier in the assault battalion of the Marine Corps in Mariupol when Russia launched its full scale invasion in February 2022.

The 32-year-old and his unit had been based outside the southern port city since December 2021, but when Russian troops advanced they only managed to hold their positions for a week before they had to retreat back to Mariupol.

Gosha was horrified at the scenes he witnessed including the bombing of Maternity Hospital No 3 on March 9 2022.

"When we were still on the outskirts, they immediately started bombing everything - Mariupol, villages, everything was demolished. It was like an apocalyptic film,” he told LondonWorld over Zoom from his home in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine. “Everything was on fire, everything was bombed, entrances, houses.

“Russians shot with tanks. They shot at the buildings, nine storeys you know, like typical where people live.

“We had to evacuate a lot of children from the houses that were burning.

“We witnessed how the Russians attacked the maternity hospital and there were a lot of dead children in the hallways. It was really really intense.”

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Gosha sustained his first injury during his unit’s defence of Mariupol.

“A mine exploded near me during the combat, resulting in a leg injury,” he said.

In May 2022, despite his injured leg he took up a combat position in Astovol, a steel and iron plant that was besieged by Russian soldiers.

Thousands took shelter in the tunnels of the steel plant while Russian forces bombarded the site with missiles and bombs.

Just two days after Gosha took up his position in Astoval he was wounded again by a mine explosion. His hand this time. 

“We were constantly shelled with all kinds of weapons, including mortars,” he recalled.

He described how his comrade warned him of the mine.

“My comrade really saved my life. I just turned my head back and shrapnel flew into my arm, one of them hit me in the arm, breaking a tendon and an artery. If I hadn't turned around, it would have hit me in the jaw, blowing off a piece of my head.”

Captured by Russian soldiers

“On May 17, 2022, by order of the commander-in-chief we surrendered our weapons and we were taken captive,” said Gosha.

This brought the 80 day siege of Mariupol to an end. While civilians were evacuated, Gosha and his unit were taken to Donetsk, the Russian occupied area in the Donbas region.

A month later he was eventually released in a prisoner swap.

“I returned to Ukraine and went through a hard path of recovery, prosthetics, and rehabilitation,” he said.

Following his rehabilitation Gosha returned to military service and is currently serving in the Ukrainian navy.

Despite losing his arm and the trauma of war, Gosha feels hopeful about the future.

“Of course, I feel hatred towards Russians and I think that since the full scale invasion, our people Ukrainians, they have united a lot,” he said. “Now we feel as one and we feel brotherhood, we help each other. And I hope that in the future, once the war is over, we will bloom and prosper.”

London Marathon

Gosha will run the TCS London Marathon on April 21 alongside a team of Ukrainian marines.

The team includes coach Slava Kulakovskyi, an adaptive athlete and professional rehabilitator, and Oleksii Rudenko, who lost his lower leg after stepping on a landmine.

Gosha is dedicating his run to his comrade Anatolii Zhumik, who needs funding to support his rehabilitation after being seriously injured on a combat mission in the Luhansk region.

He will run as an ambassador for the Citizen Charity Foundation, a Ukrainian organisation supporting injured servicemen.

You can support Heorhii Roshk in his London Marathon challenge by donating through his TCS London Marathon fundraising page.