Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Today on State of the World, a relationship surviving 1,000 days of war.
You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Friday, November 22nd. I'm Greg Dixon. More than a thousand days. This week, Ukraine crossed the 1,000-day mark since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country. And this milestone has been met with good news from Ukraine's perspective, with the announcement that the U.S. would allow their military to launch long-range missiles into Russia.
The news angered Russia, however, and raised tensions between that country and the West. To understand how this long war has affected ordinary Ukrainians, our correspondent in Kiev, Joanna Kakissis, brings us this profile of one couple separated by war, a 52-year-old man serving in the military and his wife back home in Kiev.
Mykola Ivanov lines up for a coffee at a busy military campaign in northeastern Ukraine. You can't tell that his back is badly injured until he sits down. He clenches his jaw in pain. The doctors made me sign a disclaimer saying I refused surgery because if I had gone through with it,
I would have been issued a disability certificate and then I could not return to the front line. A thousand days of war, he says, and it's still not over. He says it can't be, not unless Russian troops leave the country.
leave every inch of his country. Even if we run out of ammunition, we will gnaw at the enemy with our teeth. You can call me an optimist or even naive, but I believe in miracles. There are so many things that don't always end the way people expect. Like many of Ukraine's soldiers, Mykola is middle-aged. He's 52, a father of four, and a grandfather of seven. His
His military call sign is Yar, short for Yaroslava, his wife of 32 years. He calls her his goddess. He sends her a text every day. Good morning, sunshine, he writes. She tried to do everything to prevent me from leaving for the battlefield again. Her biggest argument was, since you don't listen to me, you don't love me. And I said, oh honey, you know I love you.
A couple of hundred miles west, at a coffee shop in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, Yaroslava Ivanova takes a break from her errands and checks her phone. If Mikola is in a very tough spot on the battlefield and can't write much, he texts her a plus sign, a proof of life.
She looks around at the draft-age men in the coffee shop. I see a lot of young men in restaurants here. I don't think it's fair. Everyone should defend our country. Even if you haven't held a gun, you need to learn how. Yaroslava is 51, tall and intense.
She was born in Russia and met Mykola while Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. He was doing his military service in eastern Siberia. They both say it was love at first sight.
Even today, Mykola says, they always hold hands when they're together. We've been asked if we are lovers or newlyweds. And we say, no, we've been married for decades. No one can believe it. Mykola joined the military in 2014, when he was 42, after Russia helped pro-Kremlin separatists take over much of eastern Ukraine.
Then, on February 24, 2022, Russian troops expanded the war into a full-scale invasion. Yaroslava's relatives told her Russia would destroy Ukraine. I was shocked. If that's what they think of us, then why were they communicating? She and her children were forced to flee their home in the southeastern port city of Mariupol. Makola joined the soldiers defending it.
By spring, Russian forces destroyed the city, killing thousands of civilians and trapping hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers in tunnels underneath an enormous steel plant. Those soldiers, including Mykola, were soon taken prisoner to a filthy, crowded jail in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. They brought food in a bucket, and we divided it among ourselves. Porridge that was like dog food.
and something that wasn't quite soup, just collard water with a few cabbage leaves. Mykola was already slim, and he lost more than 50 pounds while imprisoned at a POW camp in the occupied Ukrainian village of Olenivka. Like other Ukrainian POWs, he was also beaten. Prison guards injured his back and arms. But someone in his cell managed to get hold of a mobile phone.
So he immediately called Yaroslava, who in tears asked him, are you starving? I told her, don't worry, honey, every day we overeat and lie on the beach like seals. Yaroslava remembers laughing as she wiped away the tears.
Of course, I knew he was joking. Then he called me and said, my dear, we are going to be transferred somewhere soon and might lose our connection. The next day, July 29, 2022, a missile hit the prison where Mykola had been staying. Dozens of Ukrainian POWs died. They transferred me just before the explosion. It
It hit right in the cell where I have been staying. The phone he used was destroyed, so Yaroslava says she had no idea if he was alive.
She also read news reports saying Russia planned to put Ukrainian soldiers on trial in the ruins of Mariupol. The Russians called us all Nazis. Even President Zelensky is a Nazi to them. Even President Zelensky, she says, a Ukrainian who is Jewish.
She joined protests pushing the world to confront Russia. She spent her days lobbying Zelensky's office and international organizations to secure Mikola's release.
Her husband insists that he could feel her devotion. It gave him great comfort. I remember telling the guys in my cell, I'm absolutely sure that my wife is doing everything to get me out of here. And that's exactly what happened. Mikola was released in a prisoner exchange in May 2023. After the military convoy crossed the border, he called Yaroslava. I heard her voice on the phone.
I heard her voice and I said, honey, it's me. I was trying to hold my tears back, but when she cried, I cried too. A few days later, she brought their children and grandchildren to meet him at the military hospital in Kyiv.
She saw two buses pull in and sensed he was in the second one. When the bus he was in pulled up, I saw him right away. The bus was going very slowly, so I ran up to it and put my hand on his window. He placed his hand on the other side. She says she ran with the bus, her hand on the window, until it stopped. When Mykola got out, he was gaunt, malnourished and injured.
But he had finally come home to her. Mikola kissed her and called her a warrior. He spent months in hospitals recovering, Yaroslava nursing him back to health, sometimes bringing their grandchildren to visit.
She got used to having her husband around again. She hoped he would continue his military service in Kyiv, far from the battlefield. As an injured former POW, he was allowed to. But he said he had to go back to his guys on the front line. We had these very long fights, and I used to yell at him.
I said that I went through so much to get him home, and now I may have to go through the same thing again? To worry, to stay awake all night? He told her Ukraine doesn't have a choice right now, that every soldier is needed. It's a war of attrition, he says, and Ukraine doesn't have enough troops. It's very hard for me to sit here while my fellow soldiers are out there.
This is my country. This is my land. And if I don't defend it, who will? Mikola has returned to his brigade, again on the front line, again facing terrible odds. Only this time, he says, he won't be taken prisoner. Yaroslava knows what that means, but she chooses to believe he will escape. She picks up her phone and sends him a message. Hello, sunshine, she writes. I'm right here.
Joanna Kikisis, NPR News, reporting from Kyiv and Liman, Ukraine. That's the state of the world from NPR. Thanks for listening.
This message comes from Schwab. With Schwab Investing Themes, it's easy to invest in ideas you believe in, like online music and videos, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and more. Schwab's research uncovers emerging trends, then their technology curates relevant stocks into over 40 themes to choose from. Schwab Investing Themes is not intended to be investment advice or a recommendation of any stock or investment strategy. Visit schwab.com slash thematic investing.
This message comes from NPR sponsor Shopify, the global commerce platform that helps you sell and show up exactly the way you want to. Customize your online store to your style. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash NPR.
This message comes from Warby Parker. What makes a great pair of glasses? At Warby Parker, it's all the invisible extras without the extra cost, like free adjustments for life. Find your pair at warbyparker.com or visit one of their hundreds of stores around the country.