Portraits of Ukraine’s Wartime Moms

On Sunday, Ukraine will mark its second Mom’s Day since Russia’s full-scale invasion started. For a lot of households, the day shall be much less of a celebration than a reminder of what conflict has wrought: demise, destruction, and separated households. For the Ukrainian ladies who grew to become moms through the conflict, it’s all they’ve ever identified.

Olena Mokhonko, an obstetrician at a maternity hospital in Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, has helped ship as many as 70 infants a month because the conflict started final 12 months. As a health care provider, she felt duty-bound to remain within the metropolis regardless of the risks she and her household confronted. “I needed to go to work as a result of I’m a health care provider who took an oath to assist others,” she says. “In my work, what I really like essentially the most is seeing a father cry and witnessing the enjoyment of oldsters as they welcome their youngster into the world.”

Nina together with her daughter within the basement the place the household have sheltered from bombing.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Maryna together with her daughter Diana at house in Chernihiv.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Kateryna and her household on her daughter’s 1st birthday.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Iryna together with her daughter Amelia at a park close to their house in Chernihiv.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Simply over per week into the Russian invasion, Mokhonko helped 4 Ukrainian ladies ship their infants, and in March this 12 months helped rejoice the childrens’ first birthdays. Mokhonko says that the moms and their kids, whose portraits had been captured by photographer Serhii Korovayny, characterize the power and resilience of Ukrainian ladies.

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“They’re true heroines,” she says.

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As many as 195,000 infants had been born in Ukraine final 12 months, in accordance with the United Nations Inhabitants Fund, the U.N.’s sexual and reproductive well being company. One in three had been delivered in UNFPA-supported hospitals, which have been topic to heavy bombardment in violation of worldwide legislation.

Olena Mokhonko, a health care provider and obstetrician, has delivered infants all through the conflict in her house metropolis of Chernihiv, Ukraine.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Certainly one of Mohenko’s 4 sufferers, Nina, gave delivery to her daughter Yulia in a hospital hall. This was a relative luxurious on the time, she remembers. When the missiles started raining down on the hospital, the ladies needed to be lowered into the basement bomb shelter. “It was pure horror,” Nina says. “Infants had been crying, ladies had been giving delivery.”

One other affected person, Kateryna, gave delivery to her daughter Sofia within the bunker that very same evening. “We spent the primary hours of her life underground,” she remembers. Although she and her daughter had been discharged the following morning, what awaited them exterior the hospital was no totally different. Kateryna says she hid in her sister’s basement together with her new child for 3 days, with no warmth, mild, or water. “I needed to discover meals for the child someplace, as a result of I had no milk.”

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“My best concern was the potential for a bomb dropping on us,” says Maryna, who gave delivery to her daughter, Diana, within the hospital hall on the identical evening as Nina and Kateryna. “Fortunately, the expertise went easily.”

For Iryna, who gave delivery to her daughter Amelia by way of Cesarean part in a cabinet turned makeshift working theater, the conflict had already left an indelible mark on her life. Simply two days earlier than Amelia’s delivery, her husband, Serhiy, was killed attempting to defend their metropolis. “Amelia was my salvation,” Iryna says. “If it weren’t for her, I don’t understand how I might have survived the whole lot; solely she gave me the power to stay on.”

Nina and her kids enter the household’s basement the place they’ve sheltered from bombing in Chernihiv.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Stocked cabinets within the basement the place Nina and her household have sheltered from bombing.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Kateryna together with her two kids on her daughter’s 1st birthday in Ivanivka, Ukraine.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Decorations for Sophia’s 1st birthday.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Maryna together with her daughter Diana on her 1st birthday, in Chernihiv.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Maryna shares photos taken through the conflict since Diana’s delivery.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

A destroyed lodge in Chernihiv metropolis middle.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Iryna pushes Amelia in her pram of their neighborhood in Chernihiv.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

A playground within the snow close to Iryna’s house in Chernihiv.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

Birthday decorations for Yulia’s 1st birthday.

Serhii Korovayny—UNFPA Ukraine

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Write to Yasmeen Serhan at [email protected].

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