Ordinary Ukrainians are taking up arms and defending their country against Russian forces. They say they are willing to fight for their homeland and their city.
A Ukrainian couple got married on the first day of Russia’s invasion, and now they are spending their honeymoon fighting for their homeland. They were initially planning to get married in May, but when Russia invaded, they rushed to tie the knot and join the war effort.
The war so far is tearing apart many Ukrainian families. Authorities have ordered male citizens aged 18 to 60 to stay in the country and fight Russian forces. The United Nations Children’s Fund says that thousands of children in Ukraine are at risk of dying from the conflict. And many children would suffer trauma from the fighting.
Around half a million Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have fled to neighboring countries. About 1,000 of them went to Greece, but not all of them plan to stay. A 35-year-old woman says she went to Greece only to deliver her 7-year-old daughter to her mother. She will go back to join the war effort.
Meanwhile, inside Ukraine, citizens are lining up for hours to buy rifles and shotguns at gun shops. Police say they’ve simplified the process of buying firearms. And in Lviv, men of fighting age are also lining up outside a recruitment center to join the local civil defense force. The defense force says they welcome anyone aged 18 to 60.
