Anna Yaremchuk-Bobalo looks at photographs of her fallen husband on the Wall of Memory of those who fell for Ukraine Photo: Emre Kaylak
19-year-old guy shot dead a sniper while trying to save a wounded comrade. A student was killed four days after he told his girlfriend he loved her. The father is killed by mortar fire while trying to break out of enemy encirclement.
They are among the tens of thousands of soldiers who died fighting Russia, and their faces adorn a huge memorial in Kiev that serves as a symbol of the heavy cost that Ukraine paid to contain Vladimir Putin's forces.
Anna Yaremchuk-Bobalo, 45, said: “He was so handsome,” looking at a photo of her husband Oleg, a film director who worked with Vladimir Zelensky in show business. before joining the war on the first day of the invasion. He died from mortar fire during the battle for Bakhmut.
The Wall of Memory of those who fell for Ukraine, which covers the outer perimeter of the historic St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, was installed in 2017. tribute to the victims of the war in Donbass, which began in 2014.
In 2022, it was expanded to include an informal zone of renewed conflict, marked by a sign reading “02/24/2022 – . ..”
The wall is now so full that people have resorted to adding their photos to street signs and stone trim.
A Ukrainian soldier looks at the memorial wall. Photo: Emre Kaylac
As Ukraine prepares to mark the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion, neither side is close to victory.
This week, tensions between Zelensky and his top commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, led to a replacement of the army chief, the biggest shake-up of the country's military leadership since the war began.
At the heart of the turmoil was a disagreement between the pair over whether , how many soldiers should be mobilized. General Zaluzhny has stated that Ukraine needs an additional 500,000 troops, a figure Zelensky considers impractical and potentially unpopular.
General Zaluzhny's replacement, General Alexander Syrsky, has a reputation for cruelty and is much less popular among both the public and among the population. certain military circles.
Replenishing his ranks may be his biggest challenge, but debate over how this should be done is dividing the country.
Meanwhile, thousands of Ukrainians are still coming to terms with the enormous cost of the war, including the dogged defense of Kyiv . Bakhmut and the failed summer offensive. The pain, they say, only strengthened their resolve that Ukraine must win.
Ms Yaremchuk-Bobalo said she met her husband at 18 years old. Their 21-year-old daughter Lisa studies in Prague. Ms Yaremchuk-Bobalo doesn't want her to return home for fear of more missile attacks — shrapnel from downed weapons fell from the sky and landed outside her apartment last week.
She said: «When is will happen.» the first thing happened, I was counting the days until my death, I just wanted to be with him.
“Then I realized that I had love for 25 years and thanks to this I am a happy woman. The Russians will not be able to take this treasure, it lives in my soul.”
Two months after his funeral, Ms. Yaremchuk-Bobalo pinned a photograph of him, one of the last ones taken of him, to the memorial wall. Not for myself, but — as life in Ukrainian cities has returned to normal, despite regular missile attacks — to remind others of the price of freedom and independence.
“When we drink coffee, mind your own business.” days we must remember our heroes,” she said.
Ms. Yaremchuk-Bobalo said when she joined the military widows' support group We Are Together, there were 500 members a few months after her husband's death in December. Now there are more than 3000 of them.
Anna Prutsakova holds a photo of her boyfriend at the Wall of Memory of the Fallen for Ukraine Photo: Emre Kaylak
Casualty figures are a military secret on both sides of the war, but U.S. officials estimate that as of last August, about 70,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed and 100,000 to 120,000 wounded, New York reported. The Times reports.
The past year is considered particularly deadly, with the tense final days of the Battle of Bakhmut and a failed counteroffensive believed to have cost both sides dearly.
The number of deaths is likely to increase over the winter, as fighting rages in the “meat grinders” of the Donetsk city of Avdeevka and the Zaporozhye village of Robotino.
The boyish face of Ivan Rybitva also looks out of the window. He holds a box of supplies delivered by volunteers against the wall and smiles.
After completing training in the UK, he was sent to Bakhmut in April last year when the situation there was at its worst. On the fourth day, he was shot by a sniper while trying to help a wounded colleague.
His older brother Nikolai Rybitva said: “The cost of the counteroffensive was enormous. Sometimes we attend two funerals in one week.
“Most of those killed are civilians who would simply continue with their lives, their work, their studies and would not have to fight if there was no war. Every person is a tragedy.”
Anna Prutsakova’s boyfriend, Philip Ivanov, 21, studied to be a climatologist before joining the territorial defense of Kyiv.
The last time she saw him was the day before his business trip to Bakhmut. They went out for coffee together, confessed their love for the first time, and four days later he died.
She does not have any photographs of him, and since his body has not yet been found, there is no grave to visit.
Ms Prutsakova said: “The importance of these events is small symbolic gestures from loved ones cannot be underestimated. A father can hang a photograph of his murdered son on the wall, and other relatives and friends can visit him. It has created a very sad and tragic community.”
Ms Yaremchuk-Bobalo, whose family in Crimea are Russian sympathizers, said she had previously thought that Crimea and other territories could be given up to appease Russia. .
“Now we have gone through so much pain that I can’t accept anything other than victory.”
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