Ukrainian war veteran Oleh Tserkovnyi, 34, was struck by an idea: What if a group of veterans swam across the strait of Bosphorus, between Turkey’s European and Asian shores on August 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day? When he pitched the idea to fellow veterans with amputations, two joined him right away.

They trained for months and agreed their race would have another goal — to raise money for prosthetics, which remain costly and urgently needed by many of Ukraine’s wounded. On Sunday, the three Ukrainian veterans joined more than 2800 swimmers from 81 countries in the 6.5-km crossing and completed the event. 

The Bosphorus Intercontinental Swimming Race is an annual open-water event held in Istanbul, organised by the Turkish Olympic Committee since 1989.