Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin are not going to celebrate their first wedding anniversary this Friday.
The Ukrainian couple got married on the day Russia launched a full-scale attack on their country.
Most recently, US President Joe Biden was photographed there with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky during his surprise visit on Monday.
Arieva serves as an elected Kyiv City councilor, a part-time unpaid government position that meant she was given a weapon.
He told CNN he saw a bus full of volunteers and simply jumped in, unsure where it was headed.
Back in the civilian world, the couple began volunteering, bringing food and basic supplies to liberated settlements north of Kyiv.
“We would have two hours of electricity, then five hours without electricity, then three hours of electricity, it was really demoralizing,” Arieva said. »
