The China Mail - Ukrainian soldiers' lovers kept waiting as war drags on

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 72.000368
ALL 87.274775
AMD 390.940403
ANG 1.80229
AOA 912.000367
ARS 1137.970104
AUD 1.565349
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.720686
BBD 2.017877
BDT 121.428069
BGN 1.721593
BHD 0.376901
BIF 2930
BMD 1
BND 1.312071
BOB 6.906563
BRL 5.808204
BSD 0.999437
BTN 85.314611
BWP 13.77569
BYN 3.270808
BYR 19600
BZD 2.007496
CAD 1.384165
CDF 2877.000362
CHF 0.81849
CLF 0.025203
CLP 967.160396
CNY 7.30391
CNH 7.30369
COP 4310
CRC 502.269848
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 97.403894
CZK 22.038604
DJF 177.720393
DKK 6.56557
DOP 60.503884
DZD 132.56604
EGP 51.126904
ERN 15
ETB 133.023649
EUR 0.879325
FJD 2.283704
FKP 0.752659
GBP 0.753835
GEL 2.740391
GGP 0.752659
GHS 15.56039
GIP 0.752659
GMD 71.503851
GNF 8655.503848
GTQ 7.698128
GYD 209.656701
HKD 7.763675
HNL 25.908819
HRK 6.612104
HTG 130.419482
HUF 359.10504
IDR 16862.9
ILS 3.68639
IMP 0.752659
INR 85.377504
IQD 1310
IRR 42125.000352
ISK 127.590386
JEP 0.752659
JMD 157.965583
JOD 0.709304
JPY 142.384504
KES 129.503801
KGS 87.233504
KHR 4015.00035
KMF 433.503794
KPW 899.999997
KRW 1418.390383
KWD 0.30663
KYD 0.832893
KZT 523.173564
LAK 21630.000349
LBP 89600.000349
LKR 298.915224
LRD 199.975039
LSL 18.856894
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 5.470381
MAD 9.275039
MDL 17.289555
MGA 4552.892736
MKD 54.091003
MMK 2099.344606
MNT 3566.297198
MOP 7.990393
MRU 39.435529
MUR 45.090378
MVR 15.403739
MWK 1736.000345
MXN 19.71941
MYR 4.407504
MZN 63.905039
NAD 18.856894
NGN 1604.703725
NIO 36.775056
NOK 10.47246
NPR 136.503202
NZD 1.67405
OMR 0.384998
PAB 0.999437
PEN 3.763039
PGK 4.133235
PHP 56.712504
PKR 280.603701
PLN 3.762405
PYG 7999.894426
QAR 3.640604
RON 4.378104
RSD 103.137317
RUB 82.174309
RWF 1415
SAR 3.752237
SBD 8.368347
SCR 14.241693
SDG 600.503676
SEK 9.62027
SGD 1.310745
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.775038
SLL 20969.483762
SOS 571.503662
SRD 37.15037
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.745073
SYP 13001.855093
SZL 18.820369
THB 33.347038
TJS 10.733754
TMT 3.5
TND 2.988038
TOP 2.342104
TRY 38.020804
TTD 6.781391
TWD 32.524038
TZS 2687.503631
UAH 41.417687
UGX 3663.55798
UYU 41.913007
UZS 12986.521678
VES 80.85863
VND 25870
VUV 120.966432
WST 2.777003
XAF 577.111964
XAG 0.030658
XAU 0.000301
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.717698
XOF 575.000332
XPF 102.775037
YER 245.250363
ZAR 18.821904
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 28.458439
ZWL 321.999592
  • VOD

    0.1400

    9.31

    +1.5%

  • GSK

    0.5600

    35.93

    +1.56%

  • SCS

    0.0500

    9.76

    +0.51%

  • BTI

    0.5400

    42.37

    +1.27%

  • BP

    0.6600

    28.32

    +2.33%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1400

    9.36

    -1.5%

  • NGG

    0.6300

    72.11

    +0.87%

  • RIO

    1.0100

    58.17

    +1.74%

  • BCC

    0.7800

    93.47

    +0.83%

  • JRI

    0.1600

    12.4

    +1.29%

  • RBGPF

    63.5900

    63.59

    +100%

  • CMSC

    0.0400

    21.82

    +0.18%

  • AZN

    0.5400

    67.59

    +0.8%

  • BCE

    0.4200

    22.04

    +1.91%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    21.96

    +0.18%

  • RELX

    1.0000

    52.2

    +1.92%

Ukrainian soldiers' lovers kept waiting as war drags on
Ukrainian soldiers' lovers kept waiting as war drags on / Photo: © AFP

Ukrainian soldiers' lovers kept waiting as war drags on

Kateryna Halushka often sits alone, staring at her phone waiting for a sign of life from her boyfriend, a Ukrainian soldier fighting at the front.

Text size:

Like thousands of others, the Russian invasion has turned her love life into an anxious wait for messages, calls and short-lived reunions.

Holding little faith in US President Donald Trump's promise to end the war, they are stuck in what Halushka called a constant state of waiting.

"I've got a new social role," the 28-year-old told AFP in a Kyiv park. "I am now a woman who waits".

Halushka struggled with the idea of sitting still.

She worked two jobs and volunteered as a paramedic -- away from the front since she suffered a severe injury.

"That constant waiting state is quite stressful ... you wind yourself up thinking something bad happened. You just sit there, waiting for a call, waiting for a message," she said.

She had already lost one boyfriend in the war, killed at the front.

That pain would come back anytime her current partner did not answer for a day or two.

"You live with the constant understanding that he may go to fight and not return. You constantly live with the idea that he may die and you'll never see his body again," she said.

- 'Live in the real world' -

"Your brain never comes up with anything good. It doesn't imagine that your boyfriend shot Putin, or that the war is over," she added.

Trump, who once boasted he could end the war in hours, is pushing for a peace deal that would, in theory, offer Ukrainian soldiers the chance to return home.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced a short Easter truce to run over the weekend.

But he rejected a US call for an unconditional and full ceasefire last month and there is no sign Moscow and Kyiv are anywhere close to striking an agreement.

Daria Yedamova, whose husband Artur was serving in the northeastern Kharkiv region, said she was also pessimistic.

"I am hoping for him to come back, I wish we could have a forever peace. But we live in the real world," she said.

Cheered on by Artur in video calls, she has been knocking down walls to renovate a flat they bought in Kyiv, all while taking care of their two young children.

"We're laying the groundwork for the future," she said.

But with no permanent end to the fighting in sight, the separation is taking its toll.

Lina, the couple's 11-month-old daughter, does not always recognise her father on the rare occasions they meet up.

He enlisted just a few months after she was born.

- 'Dad will come' -

Artur's son, three-year-old Taras, constantly longs for him.

"He says, 'Dad will come', 'we will sleep together', or 'we will read together'," Yedamova told AFP.

Families of serving soldiers regularly travel across the country for short reunions.

Halushka's boyfriend is given occasional permission to come to Kyiv on leave.

She was looking forward to honouring a small tradition when she next saw him -- stir-fried chicken Gong Bao at a food court in Kyiv, followed by take-out strawberry cake covered in pink icing.

She held on to such fleeting moments of happiness against a darkening future.

Halushka is among the growing numbers of Ukrainians anxious at Trump's overtures towards Moscow.

The US leader has pressured Kyiv into making concessions and is refusing to offer US-backed security guarantees that Ukraine sees as vital.

The share of Ukrainians believing Trump's election was bad for Ukraine surged from 21 percent in December 2024 to 73 percent in March 2025, according to the Kyiv Institute for Sociology.

"I feel anger and hatred that we have to communicate with stupid people" Halushka said.

Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk have probably "never opened a history book in their lives," she blasted.

"When Russia attacks us again –- and it's a matter of when, not if -- then my boyfriend's chances to survive will be even lower," she said.

D.Pan--ThChM