Prosthesis Center Berlin-Kyiv
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have already lost arms and legs, and the number continues to rise with each passing day of war. Many must wait months for a prosthesis, and the quality of prosthetic care in Ukraine is often far from satisfactory.
To provide the best possible rehabilitation and reintegration into life for war amputees, significantly more prosthetic workshops and experts are needed in the country. In particular, Kyiv has long lacked a modern prosthetics center capable of treating the many amputation injuries locally.
This is why Life Bridge Ukraine, in close cooperation with the Berlin Senate, is supporting the Kyiv city administration in establishing the first municipal prosthetics center. The initiative “Prosthetics Center Berlin-Kyiv” is a project within the framework of the Berlin-Kyiv city partnership.
The goal is to restore a high level of mobility to the city’s war-injured citizens. This requires solid craftsmanship in prosthetic care. Therefore, Life Bridge Ukraine is not only delivering the necessary equipment for the Kyiv center but also sharing expert knowledge of modern prosthetics practices.
The “Prosthetics Center Berlin-Kyiv” is being set up and operated within secure premises of a municipal hospital.
For this project, we are closely cooperating with the Bundeswehr Hospital in Berlin and the following medical supply companies: pro-samed GmbH, Seeger Gesundheitshaus GmbH & Co. KG, Hempel GesundheitsPartner GmbH, Zapfe Orthopädie-Technik GmbH, and Koch Orthopädie GmbH.
May/June 2025
Together with prosthetist Andreas Barlakowksi (Daniel Koch Orthopädietechnik), we traveled to Kyiv to check whether the machines
were all in the right place for an optimal workflow and to record everything that was missing. We dragged and changed the locations of the machines
on site until everything was in the right place. We also provided on-site care for Valeri, one of our patients who came to us in Berlin in 2024
for prosthesis fitting, and checked the prosthesis for the need for adjustments.
The hospital also has a new director: Sergi Dubrov. We met with him to discuss the upcoming opening of the city's prosthetics center and all
the next steps. The hospital is still missing some technical and medical equipment and materials, which we are now working on procuring with
the help of our sponsors and cooperation partners.
April 2025: The Berlin Trainees Are Back in Kyiv to Prepare the Opening of the Prosthetics Center
After a year of intensive training at our partner orthopedic workshops in Berlin, trainees Akim Kot and Anastasia Tkach have now returned to Kyiv to help prepare for the opening of the prosthetics center.
March 2025: The Machines Are Running!
It looks a bit like a spaceship: no daylight, sparkling clean, and filled with brand-new machines. On behalf of Life Bridge Ukraine and our machinery supplier Streifeneder from Munich, our colleague Max Key has now tested and installed the machines at the Kyiv prosthetics center. Now it just needs to come to life: Hospital No. 12 is assembling the on-site team, and we are sourcing additional materials and fitting parts for the upcoming launch! Numerous war amputees are already on the waiting list for care.
Prosthetics training for injured veterans
In Ukraine, tens of thousands of war amputees are already waiting for a prosthesis. However, the quality of prosthetic care is often insufficient to properly restore mobility—particularly for the mostly young men affected. There is a shortage of prosthetic workshops and specialists in the country, which is largely due to the lack of vocational training. At present, there is no intensive hands-on training component to complement the academic study of orthopaedic technology. Through our training program, we aim to strengthen practical prosthetic fitting education in Ukraine. We are modeling this program on Germany’s dual education system, which combines theoretical lessons in vocational schools with hands-on training in companies or workshops. Starting in early 2026, Ukrainian trainees—mainly from Kyiv—will receive practical instruction in Berlin. This effort is supported by orthopaedic workshops in Berlin, the Orthopaedic Guild of Berlin, and a vocational training campus in the city.
This program is particularly aimed at amputee soldiers who are often no longer able to return to their former professions. The long-term base funding is expected to come from the ERASMUS+ program of the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth, and Family (GoEurope).
July 2025: Life Bridge Ukraine invites amputee veterans to Berlin for prosthetics training
Following the successful training of the first six prosthetics trainees from Kyiv, we are now offering our practical training
programme to amputee veterans in Ukraine. With this training programme, we want to give amputee veterans new prospects for their lives
and careers, building up their country and bringing further comrades back to their feet.
We have summarized all the essential information for interested veterans
here.
Medical evacuations
We focus on the medical evacuation of severely wounded soldiers to Germany for complex medical procedures, aiming to prevent amputations, infections, and lifelong disabilities. Each case is unique and complex, involving medical evacuation logistics, surgical interventions, and bureaucratic procedures.
To date, we have medically evacuated and rehabilitated 53 severely injured soldiers.
Since 2025, our focus has shifted toward building medical and orthopedic infrastructure within Ukraine. As a result, we now conduct medical evacuations only in exceptional cases—particularly when an amputation can be avoided through our initiative.
This project is carried out in close cooperation with the Bundeswehr Hospital in Berlin.
July 2025: Osseointegration – The surgeries are done successfully!
As far as possible, we try to operate without osseointegration - bone implants. However, in the case of very high amputations,
an implant can be the last chance of mobility and regaining an active life.
Three of our patients with very high amputations have now had implants fitted by our fabulous colleagues at Rostock University
Medicine - Dr. Aschoff and Dr. Saß. We will soon be starting to fit the prostheses.
Medical knowledge transfer between Berlin and Kyiv
As part of the medical knowledge exchange between Berlin and Kyiv—a project within the Berlin-Kyiv city partnership—Life Bridge Ukraine has so far hosted ten Ukrainian doctors in Berlin.
The goal of the project is to promote professional exchange on the treatment of severely injured patients, enable hands-on training, and strengthen medical cooperation between the two capital cities. The participating doctors specialize in surgery, anesthesiology, neurology, and traumatology. Based on their areas of expertise and interests, they were assigned to renowned medical institutions in Berlin, including the Bundeswehr Hospital (BWK) and the BG Trauma Hospital Berlin (UKB). The BG Hospital in Halle (BG Halle) also supported the initiative by offering observerships to Ukrainian colleagues.
June 2025
In June 2025, we welcomed the 10th colleague in the Vitalii project - a head anaesthetist from a hospital in Ukraine - to Berlin for an internship. He spent 2 weeks as an intern at the BG Klinikum Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin. Photo: Together with Prof. Dr. Prof. Dr. med. Marc D. Schmittner, DESA, MHBA, Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin
Special Project: Assistance for Severely Wounded and Ill Children in Kyiv
The bombing and partial destruction of the Okhmadyt State Children's Hospital in Kyiv on July 8, 2024 by Russia caused great suffering for the children being treated there and their families. 52 of these seriously ill children had to be medically evacuated to another hospital, the Kyiv Municipal Children's Hospital No. 1. The children could be admitted there, but there was a lack of the necessary medical neurosurgical equipment to be able to operate and care for the children properly.
With the help of the Regine Sixt Children's Aid Foundation (financing of the necessary medical instruments) and Valid Ukraine (customs and logistics), we have enabled the No1 Children's Hospital in Kyiv to open a neurosurgical department for seriously injured and seriously ill children in order to significantly improve the situation for these children.
July 2025
With the last delivery from KLS Germany our mission is accomplished: The neurosurgery is ready to operate. Our heart is with the children operated there.