Russia's gains on the battlefield have forced Natalia to rebury her husband in Kyiv.
Watch LiveBritish Broadcasting CorporationHomeNewsSportBusinessTechnologyHealthCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveDocumentariesHomeNewsUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessWorld of BusinessTechnology of BusinessNYSE Opening BellTechnologyWatch DocumentariesArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindHealthWatch DocumentariesCultureWatch DocumentariesFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsWatch DocumentariesArts in MotionTravelWatch DocumentariesDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthWatch DocumentariesScienceNatural WondersClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingAudioPodcast CategoriesRadioAudio FAQsVideoWatch DocumentariesBBC MaestroDiscover the WorldLiveLive NewsLive SportDocumentariesHomeNewsSportBusinessTechnologyHealthCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveDocumentariesWeatherNewslettersWatch LiveFearing Russia will seize her town, war widow moves husband's grave to Kyiv8 hours agoShareSaveSarah RainsfordEastern Europe correspondent, KyivShareSaveMatthew Goddard/BBCVitaly died fighting the Russians in 2022The quiet of a Kyiv cemetery is broken by a trumpet salute, then a burst of rifle fire.
Soldiers stretch a Ukrainian flag over a shiny wooden coffin and stand silently alongside in the sparkling white snow. A woman cries, her face crumpling.
Natalia is burying her husband for the second time.
Vitaly was killed three years ago fighting in the eastern Donbas and his first grave was in their home town of Slovyansk. But Russian forces have advanced since then and the area is increasingly under attack.
So Natalia had her husband's grave exhumed and Vitaly's remains moved hundreds of miles to Ukraine's capital.
"When we buried him in Slovyansk, land was being liberated and we thought the war would soon end," Natalia explains, after the reburial ceremony conducted with military honours.
"But the frontline is constantly moving closer and I was scared Vitaly might end up under occupation."
Vitaly was a ceramics artist who volunteered to defend his country in the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
"He didn't want to, but he had do it. He was a patriot," Natalia explains, through her tears. She was pregnant when her husband was killed and he never got to meet their daughter.
The decision to move Vitaly's body from the land where he was born and fought was extremely painful.
"It was very hard, emotionally. But it was the right decision," Natalia is sure. "It would have been far harder to leave him, to know that he had stayed."
Ukrainians are facing unimaginable choices now as the US tries to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, but Russia pushes on with its invasion.
That includes massive aerial attacks against Ukraine's energy system, against all rules of war.
Meanwhile, the most pressure for compromise is on Kyiv.
At some point, the US-led talks will hone in on the most sensitive issue of all: the status of land in the eastern Donbas region that so many men have died defending.
Ukraine still controls around a fifth of the area, including Slovyansk. But the
0 Comments