MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Ukraine has its own version of the popular reality series "The Bachelor." This season's star is a young veteran and a double amputee. He represents the tens of thousands of Ukrainians who have lost limbs in a war that has profoundly changed this country. NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports from Kyiv.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: OK. Ready?
OLEKSANDR BUDKO: Tak. Yep.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Oleksandr Budko is sandy-haired and blue-eyed, with muscular, tattooed arms and the chiseled face of a movie star. He also walks on prosthetic legs. He often has to explain how he got them...
BUDKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: ...How, as a young soldier, he stopped to rest at a trench near the front line in northeastern Ukraine, how a mortar round hit that trench, burying him underground, how he twisted in pain as his fellow soldiers dug him out.
BUDKO: (Through interpreter) I was conscious the entire time. And I also realized then that I would lose my legs.
KAKISSIS: That was 2 1/2 years ago.
BUDKO: (Through interpreter) There was no point in me being angry at anyone or anything about what happened. It was better to do something good instead.
KAKISSIS: Budko recovered through excruciating physical therapy...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: In the men's 50-meters freestyle...
KAKISSIS: ...And sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: ...Oleksandr Budko of Ukraine.
KAKISSIS: He even competed in the Invictus Games last year. He also wrote a book and performed in a ballet.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KAKISSIS: And now...
BUDKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: ...He's the bachelor.
BUDKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: In one clip, Budko jumps on a motorcycle, tucks a red rose into his jacket...
(SOUNDBITE OF MOTORCYCLE REVVING)
KAKISSIS: ...And zooms away. In another, he's at a train station, meeting a date - a translator named Inna Bielen.
BUDKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: She is all smiles as he helps her with her luggage.
INNA BIELEN: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Then he takes her rock climbing...
BUDKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: ...And helps her scale the cliff.
BUDKO: (Through interpreter) I wanted to show the possibilities. I wanted to give people faith.
KAKISSIS: The people he's talking about are fellow wounded veterans.
(CROSSTALK)
KAKISSIS: Budko visits them often, and they're a tough crowd - exhausted, skeptical, emotionally distant.
BUDKO: (Through interpreter) They never allow themselves to show any feelings or failure.
KAKISSIS: At this hospital in Kyiv, veterans are recovering from amputations. The physical therapy is grueling.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER #1: (Groaning) Ugh, ah.
KAKISSIS: Budko introduces himself with his military call sign, Teren. It's the name of a thorny wild plum. In Ukrainian folklore, it symbolizes obstacles and overcoming them.
BUDKO: (Through interpreter) Do not focus only on your injury, because remember - you are examples of courage and heroism. You are not disabled.
KAKISSIS: The wounded men thank Budko for the pep talk and clap.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER #2: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: And then they ask him a bunch of practical questions, like where to get the best prosthesis. Mykola Kovalenko lost his leg after a mine exploded, and he wants to know how to navigate medical bureaucracy.
MYKOLA KOVALENKO: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: He compares applying for financial assistance to passing through the seven circles of hell. Budko promises to help, and Kovalenko finally cracks a smile.
KOVALENKO: (Through interpreter) What he is doing is very helpful. He is showing guys like me - guys who are injured - that all is not lost, that we shouldn't give up, that we should keep trying.
KAKISSIS: He says his wife and two teenage daughters love this season of "The Bachelor."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELOR (UKRAINE)")
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: The war has also touched the women on the show. One is a widow. Her husband was killed on the front line. Another is a soldier. Inna Bielen - the one on the rock-climbing date - she's a volunteer sending supplies to Ukraine's troops.
I'm Joanna. Nice to meet you.
BIELEN: Inna. Nice to meet you.
KAKISSIS: We meet Bielen in her Kyiv apartment, and she tells us about a soldier she loved who was killed early in the war. When she got the call about him, she was still holding out hope.
BIELEN: (Through interpreter) I remember thinking, Lord, I hope he's alive, even with no arms and no legs, because it is better to come back without limbs than not come back at all.
KAKISSIS: Even so, she says, many Ukrainians struggle to communicate with wounded veterans.
BIELEN: (Through interpreter) I was told that If you see a soldier, you say, thank you, and put your hand to your heart. Asking about amputations, whether that crosses personal boundaries - that is still new for us.
KAKISSIS: Nevertheless, she says, she did fall in love with the bachelor, Oleksandr Budko. And he says he has fallen in love, too, but he won't say with whom...
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KAKISSIS: ...At least not until the season finale.
Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kyiv.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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