For now, nearly 150 people are on the waiting list to be treated by doctors specializing in growing new bones using biotechnology, Ukraine Today reported.

Dr. Volodymyr Oksymets, traumatologist:"They will run the way they feel. Because the most important part for me is the fact that they are walking. That they are using their limbs. The rest their body will decide for itself".

Oleksandr Pidkopany, Ukrainian veteran, says it was “really scary to take the first steps.”

“The doctor told me to get up, and I said - I'm scared. He insisted - and I understood that it won't break because it's alive and I can actually feel my heel," he said.

Although the veterans ended up walking across the finish line – they say a chance to walk again is a victory in itself.

See unian.info’s video section for more of the latest news from Ukraine in video from Ukraine Today, Ukraine’s 24-hour English-language news channel.