Canadian veteran and amputee Jacob Kepka has set out on the Hope Raising Expedition across Ukraine. He is 68 and plans to cover 2,136 kilometres.
The route and details were published by Elevate Ukraine, the organisation running the initiative.
Kepka is a Canadian of Polish descent and a veteran of the US Marine Corps. He lost his leg about twenty years ago during a military operation.
The expedition started on 24 August and runs to 8 October — 46 days on the road, split into six stages.
The first stage, Lviv to Ivano-Frankivsk, covers 238 kilometres. Then come Buchach to Haisyn, Uman to Odesa, Odesa to Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro to Kremenchuk.
The final sixth stage, Kremenchuk to Kyiv, runs 403 kilometres from 28 September to 4 October. A return ride from Kyiv to Lviv follows.
The aim is to support Ukrainian soldiers and veterans who have lost limbs, and to raise funds for prosthetics and for training prosthetics specialists.
Kepka says he wants to show that an amputation does not end a person's plans, and that age is no obstacle.
"I see my mission as making sure that guys with amputations, whatever their age, do what they want and what they dreamed of," the veteran says.
"At home they call me a hero, but I do not consider myself one. I want people around the world to see through me how resilient and brave Ukrainians are," he adds.
His name is not new to the Bucha district: during his previous expedition in September 2024 he visited Irpin, and the route then ran through Borodianka and Bucha.
This year's route runs further south and ends in Kyiv. The organisers put the expedition's motto on the official map: hope is stronger than war.
As a reminder, Irpin has its own history of international humanitarian support.
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