A Ukrainian couple tied the knot in a bomb shelter as the war with Russia raged around them.
Amongst the horrors of the conflict, newlyweds Klevets and Natalia Vladislava managed to find a moment of happiness surrounded by loved ones.
Tearful well-wishers clapped and smiled as the couple signed the marriage documents and celebrated with a drink in the city of Odessa.
Though the bride was not wearing a lavish dress, she had a bouquet of flowers with a guest holding traditional Ukrainian wedding bread .
From weddings to childbirth, the country’s residents have been forced to move their lives underground as they seek refuge from Russia’s air strikes.
Hospital basements have doubled up as makeshift maternity wards and bomb shelters, as women are cramped together while they deliver their babies in the middle of a warzone.
In a Facebook post, Avant-garde village council wrote: “While in Kyiv during the bombardment, children are born, in avant-garde - new families are born! Glory to Ukraine!!!”
Meanwhile, Russian forces have claimed to take “complete control” of the Black Sea port of Kherson.
Elsewhere, the Kremlin’s forces continue to besiege the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, with its council warning that its inhabitants no longer have access to water, heating and power.
But Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country’s armed forces are holding off the Russian advance. “We have nothing to lose but our own freedom,” he said in his latest video on Thursday.
According to the UN, more than one million Ukrainians have so far fled the conflict, while the International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched an investigation into potential war crimes committed by Russia.
The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.
