Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has sustained shrapnel injuries while fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine.
The director, who spent more than five years in prison in Russia for opposing its annexation of his native Crimea in 2014, reported his injuries on his Facebook page, where he regularly posts updates about his life at the front.
He said his unit had come under artillery fire while out on its first sortie of the week.
“Three injured, mostly fractures. Already pulled out of my face, the small things in my hand and foot will stay with me forever. The other guys are fine too – Zaporizhzhia doctors know their stuff, thank you!,” he wrote.
Sentsov, whose filmography spans Rhino (2021), Nomery (2020) and Gamer (2011), joined Ukraine’s voluntary Territorial Defense forces the day of Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2021.
Within a year, the 47-year-old filmmaker had moved into the country’s special forces and has since seen regular action in eastern Ukrainian hotspots of Zaporizhzhia, Bakhmut and Donetsk.
Two weeks ago, the director posted a tribute to his wife, the lawyer and activist Veronika Velch, with whom he shares a young son.
“I’m very proud of the woman I love,” he wrote on Facebook. “Although we are now constantly apart, the bond between us only grows stronger.”
“I’m glad that Veronica and Demian returned to Ukraine despite some risks. Having a home where your family is waiting for you, it gives a whole other level of motivation out here at the front. You know exactly for whom you are risking your life, you know exactly for who you must survive.”
