Leonid Ovdiiuk has been at war with Russia since long before this year's full-scale invasion of Ukraine shook the world.
Once a police officer in far eastern Ukraine, he's been fighting since 2014 against Russia and Russian-backed separatists — some of whom he knew from life together in his small border town, long before the brutal, grinding battle began.
For now, though, Ovdiiuk can no longer fight. Not like this, when his limbs can't obey the orders he gives them. Not like this, when he's in Jacksonville, almost 6,000 miles from home.
Read the rest of this story at WJCT News partner The Florida Times-Union.