Exclusive look inside training of Ukrainian national team for Invictus Games 2025 – Rubryka’s photo report

On August 5, the Ukrainian national team for the Invictus Games 2025 held an open training session in Kyiv for wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball, and winter water sports. The military personnel and veterans are getting ready for the international sports competition, which will take place in Canada in February 2025.

Rubryka reports this.

"Veteran sports are, first and foremost, about recovery. Veteran sports are about community building. Veteran sports are a bridge to the integration of our veterans into civilian life. The Invictus Games are about more than athletic achievement. They are about human achievement and how we can support each other," Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs Ruslana Velychko-Tryfoniuk said during the official part of the open training.

Next year will mark the first time that the Ukrainian team will be participating in winter sports, including:

• skiing,
• snowboarding,
• biathlon,
• ski racing,
• skeletons.

To prepare for winter sports during the summer, team members undergo training on simulators and on the water and practice wakeboarding, which closely resembles snowboarding or downhill skiing.

"Over 187 days, the national team members will engage in training activities such as skiing, snowboarding, and curling and will also have the opportunity to experience skeleton. Their coaches, who specialize in adaptive sports in Ukraine, will support them throughout," Ilona Voloshyna, coordinator of the Invictus Games in Ukraine, emphasized.

She also added:

"We've surrounded ourselves with the best people who are made stronger by injury. They're people who can play table tennis while balancing on a balance board for hours at a time. They're people who can get on a roller ledge for the first time with a high amputee and ride for eight hours. You can do anything."

Psychologist Volodymyr Halashchuk and Canada's defense attache Serge Ménard also addressed the national team members.

After the official part, event guests had the opportunity to participate in sitting volleyball training, wheelchair basketball, and winter water sports training.

Furthermore, reporters and attendees had conversations with members of the national team and organizers of the Invictus Games in Ukraine.

For reference:

The Invictus Games, established by His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex in 2014, is a global competition for military veterans who have been wounded, injured, or fallen ill while on duty.

In 2017, Ukraine participated in the Invictus Games and made its first appearance at the event in Toronto, Canada. It also participated in the 2018 games in Sydney, Australia. The international competition was initially scheduled for May 2020 in The Hague, but due to COVID-19 quarantine measures, it was pushed back to 2022. The games finally took place in April 2022. In 2023, the Ukrainian national team competed in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The goal of the Invictus Games project in Ukraine is to provide injured and traumatized Ukrainian veterans and service members with new opportunities, helping them with their physical recovery, psychological rehabilitation, and social integration.

The project team contributes to developing and popularizing sports as effective rehabilitation among wounded soldiers. Also, it encourages society and the state to create the necessary conditions for this.

The Ukrainian national team's participation in the 2025 Games will be a jubilee for Ukraine. For the fifth time, the Ukrainian national team will demonstrate the indomitability of Ukrainian soldiers.

It is worth noting that the Ukrainian national team achieved great success at the 2023 Invictus Games, held in Dusseldorf, Germany. The team won 34 medals—12 gold, 14 silver, and eight bronze.

Rubryka also reported that the Ukrainian national team selection for the Invictus Games 2025 took place in Kyiv from May 30 to June 3. The event featured national competitions in various sports for injured soldiers and veterans.

Rubryka's photo correspondent Mykola Tymchenko covered the Ukrainian national team's training at the Invictus Games.