Their world is falling apart, but somehow Ukrainian mums keep going
Women are some of the most resilient people on this planet, and if anyone is proving that right now, it's the mums of Ukraine.
Over three million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion began just over a month ago. Mum's are trekking hundreds of miles in sub-zero conditions - baggage in one arm, kid(s) in the other as their husbands, fathers, and teenage sons - banned from leaving the war-torn country - fight on the frontline. They may never be reunited.
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A mum arrives with her children in Poland from war-torn Ukraine at the Medyka border crossing on March 15 (Getty)[/caption]
Mothers are also making heartbreaking decisions - handing their kids to others to keep them safe. One widow had to leave her children to flee alone while she took care of her own elderly mother (
she has since been reunited with her family). Images and videos of the conflict are the only evidence we have of the unthinkable atrosities occurring daily across Ukraine. The young mum with a bloodied face - standing in front of a children's hospital wiped out by shelling. The pregnant woman, who was meant to become a mother, carried away from the same scene on a stretcher. Later, she and her baby died.
https://twitter.com/MFA_Ukraine/status/1503280922262654976
These images are impossible to forget and multiple every day. But as the destruction continues, so do mums, doing what mums do best.
Some are cooking with "Putin's blood" to combat their fears. Grandmas are using AK-47s and shooting down drones with tomatoes. Mum squads are embarking on life-threatening rescue missions across Ukraine. And some are, quite literally, soldiering on - camo gear and guns at the ready.
This Mother's Day, we're standing with them.
The mum cooking-up 'Putin's Blood' underground
Valerish, a young photographer from Ukraine, spent the first few weeks of the invasion in and out of bomb shelters - her mum and dad firmly by her side. To pass the time, she posted regular updates on TikTok.
After enduring five days underground Valerish's mother lifted the family's spirits by cooking syrniki - a fried Eastern European pancake dish.
"To be honest it looks like magic," Valerish wrote, "and really so delicious!"
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Valerish's mum has been cooking up all kinds of dishes in the bomb shelters (@Valerisssh)[/caption]
Her mum's 'magic' pancakes gained well over a million views. So, Valerish followed up with a series of videos showing her mother creating yet more bunker meals - including blinchiki (crepe-style pancakes) and borscht (a sour soup), with ingredients including "Putin's blood".
Valerish has since sought refugee in Italy, but it appears her mum and dad remain underground in Ukraine. In a recent
post, she said she is thinking about them back in the bunker.
The mums who rescued over 200 kids from basements under attack
As if saving one child isn't heroic enough, these Ukrainian mums have already managed to rescue 227 from basements as Russian tanks roll by overhead.
The Claw, as the group of mums is known, has carried out life and death operations in war zones across the country to save children.
The mums sneak through woods full of Russian troops and clamber through bombed-out buildings to rescue the children - whose parents are in many cases fighting, missing, or dead.
Oksana, a key Claw member, told
The Mirror: "It’s not gentle, we have no time to comfort them properly, we bundle them into the car as many as possible then drive avoiding the tanks - for two days until we are safe."
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Despite already saving hundreds of lives, the mums' mission is far from over.
"We still have work to do," Claw ringleader, Ksenia, 50, said, "there are kids who need to be rescued."
The grandmas using AK-47s and shooting down drones with tomatoes
For the women of Ukraine, the fight doesn't stop because they're no longer of working age.
Valentyna Konstantynovska, a 79-year-old great-grandmother, was papped holding an AK-47 in Mariupol, as special forces taught her how to use the assault rifle in the weeks leading up to the invasion.
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Another grandma, Olena, from Kyiv, was smoking on her balcony when she spotted a Russian drone buzzing in the sky. Unsure what it was,
she instinctively grabbed a jar of pickled tomatoes from under her chair and took the drone straight out.
Even grandmothers who aren't in a position to fight are doing their bit for their country - making camouflage nets, baking bread, and cooking fat-laced dumplings that are transported to soldiers on the frontline.
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Lviv-based Olena, 52, told Foreign Policy: "We can’t just sit at home, we need to do something to help. We are cooking and making solid food to feed our soldiers, which will enable them to fight."
Officially the coolest grannies in town.
The mum who saved her baby from a missile strike
Olga had woken up to feed her six-week-old baby Victoria when a missile strike occurred. Sitting in her hospital bed in Kyiv, the 27-year-old mum recalled the moment her baby was covered in blood when a missile shattered glass across the room.
It turns out, the blood was her own.
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Olga told Reuters: "I was wounded in the head, and blood started flowing. And it all flowed on the baby. I couldn't understand, I thought it was her blood."
When Victoria's father Dmytro took her, Olga said she began screaming that her daughter had been cut.
"Olga, it's your blood, it's not hers," she recalls Dmytro saying.
The mum had covered her baby with a blanket to keep her warm. "And that's what kept the baby alive," Olga said, "I just got her covered in time. And then Dmytro jumped up and covered us, too."
Olga is being treated for multiple cuts to the head and body. Her baby had a scratch and some bruises but, thanks to her mum, is otherwise unharmed.
The mum-of-12 who died fighting for her country
Not all the hero mums of Ukraine have lived to tell their story. One of them is Olga Semydyanova, a mother-of-12 who was killed on the frontline.
The 48-year-old from southeast Ukraine had served as a military medic in the Donetsk region for eight years and as well as having six children of her own, she adopted six more.
Olga died in a battle with the Russian forces on the border of Donetsk and Zaporizhia on March 3.
Posting on
social media, her daughter Jylia said: "This woman is the pride of the family, the pride of Slavic Ukraine. She is worthy to be remembered."
Another daughter, Oleksandra,
wrote: "After 8 years of dedicated service in the most dangerous moments, my mother, standing in the face of death, not abandoning her own, looking face to the enemy, fighting to the last, gave her life."
Multiple Ukrainian ministers and MPs have described Olga as "a hero of Ukraine".
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