Eleven-year-old Mykhailyk, who is undergoing rehabilitation at the UNBROKEN Center and plays amputee football, led the charity run in support of the UNBROKEN rehabilitation center. The sporting event opened Lviv Resilience Day in Gdańsk today, on the eve of the Ukraine Recovery Conference. The run was organized by the Investment and Projects Office of the Lviv City Council together with Sigma Software Group and UNBROKEN to support pediatric rehabilitation.

Lviv City Mayor Andriy Sadovyy noted that the boy’s example is the strongest motivation to keep working harder.

“Several years ago, due to a severe illness, he lost a leg. Today, Mykhailyk ran alongside international partners and friends of Ukraine. For me, this is the best reminder of what we work for every day — for children who, despite all challenges, continue moving forward. These are the stories that give us the strength not to stop,” said Andriy Sadovyy, Lviv City Mayor.

For the past two years, Mykhailyk has been playing amputee football with the Pokrova team. For him, sport is a way of life.

“I love running. And when I was running, I was thinking about having enough strength to make it back. I also love football, where you need to run and work as a team. My favorite team is Pokrova. I am a member of it. It’s a team of amputee football players, where participants are without a leg or an arm,” Mykhailyk shared.

Today, the boy ran together with First Deputy Mayor of Lviv Andriy Moskalenko, officials of the Lviv City Council, as well as partners from various international institutions, including the World Bank, who are working on projects supporting the UNBROKEN ecosystem.

“We are now in Gdańsk ahead of the major Ukraine Recovery Conference. Lviv has several important events here focused on attracting funding for UNBROKEN and strengthening the city’s resilience. Today, the first and key day before the conference, we started together with our colleagues and partners who support Ukraine from different institutions. We ran a symbolic distance of 5 km, and it was especially meaningful that it was opened by Mykhailyk, who is undergoing rehabilitation at UNBROKEN. With incredible strength and energy, he truly inspired everyone,” said Andriy Moskalenko.

“It is always a great honor to support UNBROKEN — colleagues we work closely with who are doing remarkable work. To meet veterans who took part in the symbolic run in Vilnius, to be here or anywhere else in the world — we are always ready to support, because it is the least we can do,” said Darius Skusevičius, Ambassador-at-Large for the Coordination of Ukraine’s Recovery and Reconstruction at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.

It is worth noting that Lviv Resilience Day has started in Gdańsk — a special event organized by the city of Lviv ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2026. Together with international partners, discussions today focus on advancing rehabilitation, strengthening energy resilience, attracting investment, and implementing new technologies even during wartime.

Opening the event, Lviv City Mayor Andriy Sadovyy emphasized: “Our military are defending not only Ukraine’s independence. They are defending democracy in Ukraine, Poland, and across Europe.”

The Deputy Mayor of Gdańsk подчеркнув that cooperation between cities, businesses, and communities is key to Ukraine’s recovery, and that UNBROKEN has become a symbol of resilience, dignity, and hope.

Ahead are panel discussions and the signing of five new international agreements for the development of Lviv.

Photo: Roman Baluk