A year on from the onset of the Russian war on Ukraine, here’s one woman’s story of survival, support and hope

And though her story has been far from an easy one, for Ivona, leaving Ukraine has never really been an option. Though she did initially consider it when the war first broke out, as soon as her husband went to join the frontline she knew she wanted to remain as close as possible in case anything should happen. But she also considers herself, in some ways, one of the lucky ones, because unlike many other people whose partners have gone to fight, she is able to stay in close contact with her husband. “I actually had time to spend with him for a few days, he came back for a sort of vacation, which is not completely a vacation because we are at war, but we managed to see each other from the beginning,” she says. “I would say we’ve seen each other for less than a month in total in the past year. We usually chat on messenger, we don’t have that many calls, unfortunately, because of the poor quality of connection and because of how intense both our schedules are. But we keep in touch every day, there wasn’t a single day that we missed connection.”

Despite their physical distance, she is proud of her husband and “grateful” that he is able to do his bit for their country, though the true scale of its impact is evident. “The main issue in our life is uncertainty,” she says. “We cannot plan for the future. Even for a day or two.

“I know that I might only have an hour to flee if something dramatically changes.”

“We must be very mobile and must be ready to take off any moment. And that’s the way we have lived for the past year. I make sure my gas tank is always full, that I have my major belongings packed.

“I know that I might only have an hour to flee if something dramatically changes.”

And Ivona recognises that some of her experience is predominantly, and uniquely, female. “The majority of soldier’s spouses [left behind while they go to fight] are female, though we do have spousal male spouses of soldiers who haven’t enlisted in service while their partners have or women serving while their male partner isn’t,” she explains. “Because of that huge responsibility for the management of the family, you remain in the back, and you remain there all by yourself in very unstable environments, because we must be ready to flee at any moment, we don’t know where we will be living, whether we will have accommodation or not, whether we will have to go abroad or not.

“I must take all those responsibilities for all those choices for the whole family all by myself. While my husband doesn’t have that flexibility of decision-making for the civilian endeavours we have in the family.”

And such personal responsibility – on top of her responsibility to the veterans and their families who rely on Veteran Hub for support – has drastically impacted her mental health. “It’s a huge load on top of the workload, on top of the security, making all the security decisions, because every time you hear an air raid alert – and you can hear them three or four times a day – you must decide whether you’re going to the shoulder or not, what will be consequences if you don’t know, whether I can drive at this time or if I can spend a little more time in the city before I have to go back home outside of it.