In several acts of defiance, Ukrainian couples have decided to tie the knot, despite the incredibly stressful Russian invasion in their country.
Lesia Fylymonova and Valerii Filimonov recently walked down the aisle near a checkpoint in Kyiv. She wore camouflage to the wedding, while he was carrying a rifle for the ceremony.
“Of course I’m happy,” said Fylymonova, translated from Ukrainian. “I’m happy that we are alive, that this day started, that my husband is alive, and he is with me.”
Both Fylymonova and Filimonov are members of the Ukrainian defence force and decided to get married after 20 years and a child together.
“We live in challenging times,” Filimonov said. “You never know what’s going to happen to you tomorrow.”
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Among those in attendance for the wedding was Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko. “Every Ukrainian has just one goal: to stop the war,” he said.
Fylymonova and Filimonov aren’t the only couples to continue with their wedding plans despite the invasion.
Yaryna Arieva, a resident of Kyiv, and her partner got married on the day of Russia’s invasion. They spent their wedding night together, then joined the Ukrainian defence force the next morning.
“We wanted to be together, to help each other, to care about each other and to cover each other’s back.”
