(7 Mar 2022) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4369554
A Ukrainian couple who have been together for 22 years and have an 18-year-old daughter decided to formilise their relationship on Sunday by getting married on the defence line.
Lesia Ivashchenko left her job when the war with Russia started last month and joined territorial defence forces to defend her district on the outskirts of Kyiv.
She hasn't seen her partner, Valerii Fylymonov, since the beginning of the Russian invasion until Sunday, when the pair officially tied the knot.
"I'm happy that we are alive, that this day started, that my husband is alive, and he is with me," she said after the wedding ceremony on Sunday that was organized right on the defence line in Kyiv.
"We are determined to push back the enemy and take back our lands and win," said the happy bride.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother boxer Wladimir came to congratulate the newlyweds.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the ongoing resistance is putting Ukrainian statehood in jeopardy and likened the West's sanctions on Russia to "declaring war".
With the Kremlin's rhetoric growing fiercer Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians forced from their country grew to 1.4 million.
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