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Thousands of women like Svetlana lost their husbands in the war. But they don’t think about giving up.
“We have no right to forget them. They made the supreme sacrifice, they gave their lives. Let us think of her in silence.” A crowd stands on the Maidan, the central square of Kiev. Two dozen women hold up photos of men. They are pictures of their killed husbands, sons and brothers.
Legend:
Relatives mourn the deceased Ukrainian soldiers on the Maidan.
SRF/David Nauer
This is a commemoration event for those who fell defending Mariupol. The Russian army took the eastern Ukrainian city last year after heavy fighting and has occupied it to this day. It was Ukraine’s biggest defeat in this war so far – and one of the bloodiest battles.
Vladislav wanted to defend hometown
Among the crowd is 45-year-old Svetlana Shevchenko. She tells how her husband Vladislav went to Mariupol on the first day of the war, on February 24 last year. Although the couple had lived in Kiev for a while, Vladislav wanted to defend his hometown; the city where the two met and started a family.
When her neighbor comes into her apartment, shoots and kills himself and says: I want half of your room. Then don’t say: of course, you can have it.
Svetlana never saw Vladislav again. «On March 2nd he called. After that, the connection to Mariupol broke off.” After a few weeks he called again via a satellite connection. “We spoke to each other for 8 minutes,” says Shevchenko, the last direct contact.
Legend:
Svetlana Shevchenko mourns her deceased husband. But she has not renounced the fight against Russia.
SRF/David Nauer
Svetlana talks very soberly, factually. «Vladislav was the commander of a small territorial defense unit. His comrades managed to recover his body. But they couldn’t bury him properly because the shelling was too heavy.”
Mariupol soon fell to the Russians. The surviving Ukrainian defenders surrendered. Svetlana does not know what happened to her husband’s body. “It is said that they buried many of the fallen in the municipal cemetery. But that’s not reliable information.”
Svetlana is not alone
«Vladislav liked to take photos. We had so many photos in our apartment in Mariupol, including of Nikita our son when he was little. Now everything is gone, our house has been bombed out, burned out.”
The Ukrainian public doesn’t talk much about the victims. The state treats the death toll as a secret. The successes of the army are celebrated in great detail. Still, Svetlana is not alone in her loss.
Legend:
A view of Mariupol on February 24, 2022.
Keystone/Mstyslav Chernov
She is in frequent contact with other women who have lost their husbands. She is always greeted on the Maidan. Whoever has the same fate sticks together.
resistance is unbroken
What does she think about Ukraine fighting on and trying to stop the invaders? It’s the only time when Svetlana gets emotional, energetic, indignant during the interview.
“When your neighbor comes into your apartment, shoots and kills himself and says: I want half of your room. Then don’t say: of course, you can have it.”
That’s how many in the country see it: Ukraine isn’t fighting this war because it wants to, but because it has to. In any case, the spirit of resistance is unbroken, including that of Svetlana Shevchenko.
«As soon as the Ukrainian army starts attacking in the direction of Mariupol, I will follow them and push the tanks so that everything goes as quickly as possible. And when the city is liberated, I will look for Vladislav.”