The National Network of Rehabilitation Centers RECOVERY, founded by Victor and Olena Pinchuk to support Ukraine’s Security and Defense Forces, is expanding with its largest center. The new center was opened on the premises of one of the key medical institutions of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, where, after a large-scale reconstruction, five floors were transformed into an innovative and fully inclusive space for the rehabilitation of wounded service members — with 104 beds.
This is already the 18th innovative center of the national RECOVERY network. Each year, it will provide free physical rehabilitation services to more than 2,000 service members who were wounded as a result of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The RECOVERY project is an example of successful partnership between the private sector and the state, where philanthropists create innovative rehabilitation centers based on state or municipal medical institutions. As of now, 15 centers are located in civilian facilities, and 3 are based in facilities of security agencies: the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Border Guard Service, and the newly opened one under the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
With funds from the RECOVERY project, a major renovation was carried out and an innovative, barrier-free, and spacious five-story center was opened. It meets all inclusion requirements: wide doors, no thresholds, specialized non-slip flooring, handrails in hallways, and accessible restrooms for wheelchair users.
Victor Pinchuk, businessman, philanthropist, founder of the RECOVERY project:“Today we are opening the 18th RECOVERY center — and this is not just another center, it’s the largest, our flagship. The largest not only within the RECOVERY system, but also undoubtedly in all of Ukraine. The most modern. The center has five floors, 104 beds, a fully inclusive space, and the best equipment — everything is done with our Defenders in mind. They deserve the best. For my wife Olena and me, this is our way to be involved in this war, to support those who defend Ukraine. And we are very happy that this center has started operating today.”
The first two floors of the innovative RECOVERY network center are dedicated to the treatment and rehabilitation zone. The list of innovative exercise machines and devices in the new center covers the full spectrum of functional impairments, including those caused by gunshot wounds and explosive injuries. The physical rehabilitation and occupational therapy rooms are equipped with virtual reality systems that provide feedback to patients.
The first floor houses physiotherapy, mechanotherapy, and massage rooms, as well as nurse stations, staff rooms, storage rooms for equipment, and inclusive restrooms. The second floor has physical therapy halls, occupational therapy rooms, individual therapy rooms, laser and shockwave therapy, psychological support, speech and language therapy, and other functional areas.
The top three floors are occupied by an inpatient ward with 104 beds located in 33 rooms — single, double, and four-bed. All rooms are equipped with functional electric beds, comfortable furniture, and inclusive bathrooms with showers — with ample space for wheelchair users. For continuous medical supervision, there are three round-the-clock nurse stations.
In addition to the wards, the upper floors include group therapy rooms, treatment rooms, staff rooms, communication facilities, a training space for multidisciplinary teams, and necessary utility areas.
Military personnel will be rehabilitated after injuries at the new RECOVERY network center by multidisciplinary rehabilitation teams. They consist of physicians in physical and rehabilitation medicine, physical therapists, occupational therapists, massage therapists, speech and language therapists, and a psychologist. Thanks to high-tech equipment and their qualifications, they provide high-quality, accessible, and evidence-based rehabilitation care.
Viacheslav Chernenko, head of the musculoskeletal rehabilitation department of the military unit (RECOVERY center): “At the center, we adhere to a patient-centered approach: for each service member, we create an individual rehabilitation plan with clearly defined intermediate and final goals at each stage of treatment. Everything depends on the dynamics of recovery, the patient’s needs, plans, goals, and physical capabilities. If returning to service is the goal — we also take into account their military specialization and future service direction.”
During the opening of the RECOVERY center, the leadership of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine awarded the project’s founder, Victor Pinchuk, and the project manager, Svitlana Grytsenko, with the honorary distinction — “Cross for Assistance to the Medical Forces.”
Currently, 18 RECOVERY centers are operating in Ukraine: in Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (three facilities), Kyiv (three facilities), Lutsk, Lviv, Odesa (two facilities), Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, and Chernihiv. In total, over 25,000 service members have already received rehabilitation assistance at RECOVERY network centers.
The founders of the RECOVERY project, Victor and Olena Pinchuk, plan to expand the network to at least 19 innovative rehabilitation centers, where up to 26,000 service members can receive recovery services annually.