Separated by war, a Ukrainian family faces danger at the front and far away
BORYSPIL/DONETSK REGION, Ukraine, Sept 25 - "When are you coming?" two-year-old Snizhana asked her father, a soldier serving with an artillery unit in eastern Ukraine.
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Snizhana → separate → Ukraine
Smiling into his smartphone hundreds of miles away, Yevheniy Borysenko started to reply when three loud explosions nearby forced him to cut the conversation short.
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explosions → smile → conversation
"Okay, bunny, I'll call you later!"
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian families have been separated by the war, adding to the stress of survival on the front lines and the growing dangers further away as Russia escalates missile and drone attacks across the country.
Yevheniy's wife, Alina, lives with Snizhana and Yelyzaveta, her 11-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, in Boryspil, southeast of Kyiv.
The couple met on a dating website in 2023, the second year of the full-scale war, and married several months later.
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couple → call → war
Snizhana was born in early 2024 but only sees her father when he takes home leave.
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he → bear → leave
His visits are rare, often unexpected and usually short, reflecting the unpredictability of life as a Ukrainian soldier fighting a larger and better-equipped Russian army.
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visits → reflect → army
"Every time he comes to visit me, it's just wow! A surprise! Unexpected!"
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it → come → me
said Alina, 32, as she sat on a bench watching Snizhana play in a children's area outside her apartment block.
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Snizhana → say → block
"And then his colleagues call him: 'Go there (to the front) again!'
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colleagues → call → front
And once again, everything inside me just breaks.
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everything → break → me
He saw his child for a couple of hours, and that's it."
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that → see → hours
GROWING THREATS
Yevheniy, 35, serves with the 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade in Donetsk, a fiercely contested region in eastern Ukraine which Russian forces have been trying to take full control of for several years.
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forces → serve → years
"When he goes to his position, I worry about him so much, probably more than he worries about himself," Alina said.
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Alina → go → himself
The worry goes both ways.
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worry → go → ways
In recent months, Ukraine and Russia have engaged in an escalating air war, making life more dangerous in towns and cities far from the front.
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life → engage → front
Jet-powered Russian drones and ballistic missiles have raised the threat to Ukrainian civilians to its highest level since the early stages of the war.
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drones → power → war
Russian civilian casualties, while much lower, have also risen sharply this year.
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casualties → rise → ?
An apartment block close to the Borysenkos' home was badly damaged earlier this month during one such attack.
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block → damage → attack
"I don't want my child to hear these explosions," said Yevheniy, speaking at an undisclosed location in Donetsk during a break in his duties.
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Yevheniy → want → duties
"When Shahed drones were flying toward Boryspil, I asked my wife to take them to their grandmother's village ...
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I → fly → village
Because children get scared at night.
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children → get → night
My wife tells them: 'It's a thunderstorm, a thunderstorm,' and my daughter, who's two-and-a-half, says: 'Bang-bang!'.
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who → tell → them
Alina has no intention of going far, at least for now.
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Alina → have → intention
"I'll stay here because my older daughter was born here, my younger daughter was born here, my husband is here, my mother-in-law is here.
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law → stay → ?
I want to be here!"
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I → want → ?
The Aporia
