Vasyl Toropov, a Ukrainian psychologist and veteran, served as a combat medic at the frontline. Near Soledar, he treated the wounded. After returning home, he could no longer live as he had before. He tells SIR news agency his story.
(Foto Vasyl Toropov)
“I was at home, but I still felt as though someone was about to attack me. I was still living as if there was a danger. There were times when I thought about taking my own life. I had not been prepared to live after all this”.
Today, Vasyl has returned to working as a psychologist. In the Odesa region, he founded “Тиша говорить”, “Silence Speaks”, a project for military personnel, veterans and their families.
On 25 February 2022, the day after the Russian invasion began on a full scale, Vasyl volunteered to support the defence of Balta. He helped the police and territorial defence forces. He then went to the frontline. “A friend of mine, who already had military experience dating back to 2014, suggested that I join the territorial defence. We then decided to mobilise”, he recounts.
He was assigned the role of combat medic, but he had no medical training.
“There was no choice. They told me I would become a combat medic and sent me on the training courses”. Vasyl studied and trained. Before leaving, he also asked to observe several operations at Balta hospital. “I wanted to see the wounds, to get used to them. I knew that, once at the frontline, I could not afford to be afraid”.
Then came Donetsk. The missions near Soledar. The wounded who needed to be treated.
At the frontline, he had learned to recognise danger. Back home, he could no longer stop thinking about it.
“Even when nothing was happening, inside me it was as though the war was continuing”. Vasyl withdrew from others. He sought out quiet places. He began psychological treatment. He even reached the point of thinking about suicide. The problem was no longer coming back alive from the frontline.
It was living afterwards.
That experience gradually led him to the idea of working with other veterans. “I wanted to help others. I believe that this desire was what drove me to keep going”.
Thus a broader project was born: psychological support, physical activities, art therapy, ceramics and cooking. In December 2025, multi-day retreats for veterans also began. “I tried to understand what had worked for me and what had not. Then we built the programme based on that as well”, he explains. Even the simplest things became part of the programme. “When veterans prepare food, they become involved. Then they go home and perhaps want to prepare something for their family”.
Then there is the bond between those who have experienced the war.
“Those who have been to war recognise those who have been to war”.
“A veteran understands another veteran more quickly. You do not have to explain everything. There are things you recognise immediately”.
In the village of Holma, in the Balta community, the project has a dedicated space. Military personnel, veterans and family members come there. They take part in activities, talk and spend time together.
Shortly after it opened, however, the centre caught fire. Vasyl believes the fire was deliberate. “When I arrived, it was already burning”, he recalls. For a moment, he considered giving up. “At first, I wanted to quit. Then I realised that, if I stopped, I would have nothing left”. The space was rebuilt and reopened in July 2026.
For Vasyl, returning does not coincide with the day when a soldier leaves the frontline. It may begin much later. And in Ukraine, it takes place while the war continues.
Vasyl has travelled both paths.
Before the war, he was a psychologist. At the frontline, he became a combat medic. Back home, he had to ask for help. Now he works with men who are facing the same return.
The place he created is called “Silence Speaks”.
The name comes from what he was seeking after returning from the frontline.
“I needed silence”.
The post War in Ukraine. A veteran speaks: “I was not prepared to live after all this” first appeared on AgenSIR.