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The Resilience of Ukraine’s widows

Kharkiv: Alevtina Palyga, 43, holds daughter Aryna at her apartment in Kharkiv. Oleksandr was 38, after only a year of military service and one month of training he was needed to fight in Bakhmut, and was killed on November 8, 2023.Aryna is 20 months old. They were about to get married but never had time. They were really happy and he loved his daughter. She grieves next to Oleksandr’s grave, who was killed by a drone. His body was headless, so she grieves when she thinks about this. There was no chance to really say goodbye, no open casket at the funeral ceremony. Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers killed in action thousands of women have become widows of war. The courage that Ukraine’s widows show in shouldering grief and economic recovery while raising a generation of children without fathers seems to define the resilience of Ukraine itself.

The Resilience of Ukraine’s widows

Alevtina Palyga, 43 cries as she visits the grave of partner Oleksandr at Kharkiv’s military cemetery. He was killed by a drone. His body was headless, so she grieves when she thinks about the fact that there was no chance to really say goodbye, no open casket at the funeral ceremony. After only a year of military service and one month of training Oleksandr was needed to fight in Bakhmut, and was killed on November 8, 2023 at age 38. They were about to get married but never had time. They were really happy and he loved Aryna, his daughter.

The Resilience of Ukraine’s widows

Volodymyr, Ukraine Widow Natalia Tsiba, 32, poses with her family and portraits of her two husbands she lost to the war. She has 4 children to take care of as a single mother, two are from her first marriage. Alexander Vasilevich was killed at age 36, on Dec. 21,2022, from a rocket attack in the Kharkiv region. They divorced but remained close. Her oldest children Misha, 11 and Tanya, 13 are supported with military pension while her youngest Anya, age 4 , and Mykola, one month old. Her second husband Serhiy Tsiba, 35, was killed in a car accident while on a military mission in the Kharkiv region on June 21, 2023. The military have not given her compensation yet, they claim that it was his fault, she's had to get a lawyer to try to fight the case in order to get financial aid.

The Resilience of Ukraine’s widows

Oleksandra Potipko, 29 , rests at her parents home ready to give birth in her ninth month. After six years together Ivan and Oleksandra finally got married last June.They had postponed the wedding due to the pandemic, and then the full-scale war, but once Ivan volunteered to fight they knew it was time. Only 16 days later, Ivan was dead. He was killed fighting with the 79th Brigade in the eastern Donetsk region. The next day, Oleksandra found out she was pregnant. Ivan had dreamed of having a daughter, soon she would give birth to Bohdana. According to Oksana Borkun, head of the widow’s support group, at least 30 widows have given birth after the death of their husbands. They are fighting a silent war, keeping the legacy of the fallen alive, while facing the prospect of parenting alone.