The war in Ukraine has been going on for more than nine months. Women who became pregnant just before or at the start of the war have now given birth to the first “war babies”.
The mothers’ pregnancies have been characterized by a lot of stress as Russian forces regularly carry out attacks on hospitals in the country.
Inna is among the mothers in Ukraine who found out she was pregnant after the war started. She says the pregnancy was stressful.
– For the first three months, my husband was not allowed to leave the front to visit me. I was very unsure, she says to the EBU news agency.
STRESSFUL: Inna describes the pregnancy as stressful. Photo: EBU
– How could I give birth in a bomb shelter?
Little Sofia is one month old.
– My husband was first in the queue to travel to the front. We didn’t know I was pregnant at the time, says Inna.
Two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, her mother Inna discovered she was pregnant.
Her husband, Dmytro, suggested that she go abroad, but she did not want to. She wanted to wait for him.
Inna eventually fled Odesa to Lviv where she gave birth to Sofia and became a mother.
– We were looking forward to having the child, but it was scary. I didn’t know I was pregnant until two months into the war, says Inna.
Furthermore, Inna says that she was unsure whether she should flee Ukraine.
– Hospitals had already been bombed. How could I give birth in a bomb shelter? It was scary, but we are very happy that everything went well. Thank God, says Inna.
THE ESCAPE: Inna fled from Odesa, which in December was hit by a blackout after an attack, to Lviv where she gave birth to Sofia. Photo: EBU
Several health institutions were affected
Earlier this year, news broke that a maternity ward in Mariupol was bombed by Russian forces.
– Mariupol. Direct attack by Russian forces against the maternity clinic. People and children lie in the ruins. A war crime, it said on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s Twitter account.
In the attack, three people were killed, according to Ukrainian authorities. One child will be among the dead.
According to figures from the World Health Organization, Russian forces have attacked over 700 health institutions.
MARIUPOL: In March, this image went around the world after Russian forces bombed a maternity ward. The pregnant woman and the child in the photo later died from their injuries. Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
– She is my motivation to come back alive
Inna is happy that she has had baby Sofia, but also fears for the future.
Her husband Dmytro is a soldier. He was given leave to attend the birth, but next week he must return to the front.
– It is difficult to imagine him going back to the front to fight. It’s difficult every time we say goodbye, I cry a lot, says Inna.
She says she wants the war to end.
SOLDIER: Inna’s husband, Dmyto, is a soldier. His desire and motivation is for Sofia to grow up with both parents. Photo: EBU
– He is at the front, I wake up every morning and wait for him to call to say that everything is fine, says Inna.
She points out that there was a lot of stress during the pregnancy.
– In the first months of the war, people were very stressed. Stress does not affect the baby directly, but if the mother is stressed it can affect the pregnancy, it can have consequences for the baby, says Inna.
The birth of his daughter Sofia makes father Dmytro even more motivated to fight for Ukraine’s freedom.
– She is my motivation to come back alive. I hope everything goes well and that she grows up with us, says Dmytro.
