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While other little boys were intrigued by the idea of being a soldier, it was never something that appealed to Andrii Smolenskyi when he was growing up.
But when Russia invaded his home country Ukraine last year, he refused to flee Kyiv and instead stayed to fight alongside his countrymen.
Initially, the 27-year-old started working in the infantry but he was soon promoted to sergeant in a drone reconnaissance unit on the frontline due to his experience working in IT.
But everything changed in a flash for the financial manager-turned-soldier in May when he got caught in a blast in which he lost both his arms above the elbow as well as his eyes.
The whole mission feels like a bad dream. He recalls regaining consciousness after the explosion and asking, "Why is it so dark?
"Then I realised that I couldn't pull off the blanket.”
He was rushed to a military hospital but doesn’t remember much after that. Days later he regained consciousness with a ventilator tube connected to his neck.
His wife, Alina, had been notified about the tragedy and had rushed to be at his side.
In an interview with American broadcaster NPR she said a military psychologist had broken the news to her about what had happened.
"He asked me to sit down and he said that there were two pieces of news for me. The good news is that Andrii is alive. The sad news is that he doesn't have his arms and he didn't know if he had his eyes."
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Alina says she was just relieved that her husband was still alive.
"I felt happy that I'm with him," she says. "That he's not alone. That I am not alone too. That we are together. Because we are family."
The couple met when they were just 22 and bonded over common interests in music, hiking and the outdoors.
"We talked all night long. After that, he found me on Facebook and we started to chat with each other. Every day,” Alina recalls.
After three months, Andrii proposed.
"I was really kind of at that point of my life [when] I understood who am I, what I want from this life," he told ABC news. "And I finally found the girl for me."
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Alina never tried to stop her husband from enlisting in the war against Russia, even though she knew the risk that he'd face being on the frontline.
Andrii says the thing he now finds most devastating is that he will never be able to hold his wife’s hand or see her smile again.
Last month The Wall Street Journal reported that between 20 000 and 50 000 Ukrainian soldiers may have lost limbs since the war began.
Even though he's lost so much, Andrii says he's thankful to be alive.
"I am grateful to God that I can talk, that I can hear at least [with] one of my ears. And that I can remember who I am, why I did what I did. And to be proud for myself and my family."
The young couple, who celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary this month, are focusing on Andrii’s recovery and are trying to raise money for him to get prosthetic arms.
He also hopes that by sharing his story, he can encourage people to donate to help others who have lost limbs in the protracted war.
"I'll do everything so the next veteran after me can just come and be helped psychologically, physically, in any kind of surgery," Andrii says.
SOURCES: NPR.ORG, ABCNEWS.GO.COM, KNKX.ORG, FACEBOOK.COM
