Hockey Player-Turned-Soldier Recovers From Near-Fatal Mission
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- Oleksandr Matviychuk spent years playing and coaching hockey alongside Russians before Putin invaded Ukraine, after which he became a Ukrainian soldier.
- Matviychuk was nearly killed during a military mission last year, and plastic surgeons have spent the past year reconstructing his face one painful surgery at a time.
Why it matters: Matviychuk's story illustrates the deeply personal toll of Russia's invasion on Ukrainians who once had cross-border relationships with Russians, with his year-long facial reconstruction marking the physical cost of that war on one man who shared the ice with future enemies.
