Last week, a graduation ceremony was held for an IDF squad commander course. Among the soldiers who completed the course, one was particularly noticeable because he was supported by crutches - Sgt. Daniel Kupilov, 20, from the northern Israeli town of Or Akiva. Kupilov lost his leg while engaged in combat in the Gaza Strip, in a tragic incident that also claimed the lives of three of his comrades.
The Kupilov family, including parents Natalia and Alexander, Daniel, and his sister Alexandra, moved to Israel from Ukraine four years ago. Daniel enlisted in the IDF in December 2022 and was assigned to the Kfir Brigade.
"At the beginning of the war, on October 7, I was stationed at Mount Dov on the border with Lebanon. The day after the attack in the south, my post was attacked with mortars from Lebanon. Later, I started the brigade's squad commander course, which was supposed to last three months, but was shortened to two months due to the war. In early March, on a Thursday, when we were supposed to go home, we were told that everything was cancelled and we were going into Gaza for two weeks,"Kupilov recalls.
Kupilov and his team entered the Khan Younis region overnight between that Thursday and Friday, during which they conducted house clearances. They entered a two-story house on Friday afternoon.
"I remember there was a hallway in the house. One squad of four soldiers went into a room at the end of the corridor to clear it. The section commander, myself, and two other soldiers went to clear another room. A few seconds after we entered the room on the first floor, an explosive device detonated. The next thing I remember is lying on the floor. I was fully conscious. I saw that my leg had been severed, but I didn't feel any pain. I automatically applied a tourniquet to the area of the amputation, just as we had been trained to do in our exercises. We had practiced this a lot, and it proved its worth," he told Ynet.
"At some point, they lifted me onto a stretcher and transported me into an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC). Shortly after, one of my comrades was brought into the APC, unconscious, with his face so swollen that it was hard to recognize him," Kupilov continues, "Next, I was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center."
His condition was described as severe. For two days, he was under sedation and on a ventilator, and he underwent multiple surgeries. "The initial amputation was below the knee," he explains, "but due to an infection, the doctors had to perform a further amputation above the knee. That was the first surgery I had. Another surgery was performed to remove shrapnel from my abdomen. They also removed parts of my intestines that had been damaged by the shrapnel. I also sustained burns to my face and hands."
Kupilov is currently undergoing rehabilitation in the orthopedic ward of the Sheba Medical Center. "In the early days, when I was in intensive care, I was unaware that there had been fatalities," Kupilov shares. "I had spent all that time believing that I was the only one hurt and that no one had been killed. It was only when a friend came to visit and mentioned it offhand that I found out. I started crying. I think about them a lot, and it hurts."
While he was still in rehabilitation, the date of the commanders' course graduation ceremony was drawing near. "I was certain that I wanted to attend," says Kupilov. "I know that for me the course has now become more of a symbolic event, given that I won't be commanding anymore, but it was important for me to be present at the end. I wanted to reunite with all my friends from the squad, to be with them once again. I arrived with my family just before the ceremony started, and everyone was already standing on the parade ground. When they saw me, everyone began clapping. The soldiers, their families, my friends from school, and even those from the pre-military academy where I had been prior to my enlistment.
"At first, I didn't comprehend who they were applauding, but then I realized it was for me. It was overwhelming and emotional. I wasn't sure why they were clapping for me, so people explained: 'You've endured a severe injury, you're smiling, working hard, and making a recovery. Despite the adversity, you remain upbeat and happy, and that's deserving of applause.'" A video in which he is seen placing berets, saluting, and expressing his gratitude to the attendees was shared online and quickly went viral.
Kupilov concludes: "I feel like I've triumphed. I managed to save myself; by luck, I'm alive and on the road to recovery. There are friends who weren't as fortunate and paid the ultimate price. And there are families left in mourning. I believe the friends who were killed would want me to remain unbroken, to stay strong, and also for the team to continue fighting in Gaza so that their deaths are not in vain."
This week, he began the process of getting fitted for a prosthesis, with the hope of being able to walk on two legs again. "I'm considering returning to the military," he shares, "not as a combatant due to my injury, but I do want to contribute, perhaps as a shooting instructor or in some other training capacity."