LVIV and SAMAR, Ukraine — During a CrossFit class, one man slowly, methodically, pulls weights down from a machine. He's in the class, but he isn't fully participating; he's not doing the same exercises as the others, or chatting with them during breaks. Andriy Khrystiuk, 52, only just arrived in Lviv, a big city in western Ukraine, a few days ago. He's a veteran, and trying to recover from wartime mental trauma.
Every night Khrystiuk says when he closes his eyes his dreams take him right back to the front lines. "I often wake up all sweaty because I wake up from combat. In my dreams I still participate," he says.
Khrystiuk was a sniper in northeastern Ukraine's Kupiansk area until he was injured in an attack in May 2024. His right ribs were broken and his right lung was punctured as arm