A Ukrainian couple have celebrated their wedding by posing for photos surrounded by rubble in war-shattered Kharkiv.
Newlyweds Nastya Gracheva and Anton Sokolov were pictured shortly after they tied the knot on Sunday amongst the rubble of a shopping and office complex in Ukraine’s second biggest city.
The couple were medics before the outbreak of the war but have since become volunteers, providing free medical care to those in need.
Newlyweds Nastya Gracheva and Anton Sokolov were pictured shortly after they tied the knot on Sunday amongst the rubble of a shopping and office complex in Ukraine’s second biggest city
The couple were medics before the outbreak of the war but have since become volunteers, providing free medical care to those in need
Anastasia Grachova and Anton Sokolov share a moment with each other as they get married in Kharkiv, Ukraine, April 3
A Ukrainian couple celebrated their wedding surrounded by rubble in war-shattered Kharkiv
Nastya Gracheva and Anton Sokolov were pictured shortly after they tied the knot on Sunday
Nastya worked as a nurse in an oncology clinic while Anton Sokolov worked as a doctor before the Russian invasion of Ukraine – and they didn’t let the war ruin their special day, instead using it as a backdrop to their wedding snaps
Nastya worked as a nurse in an oncology clinic while Anton Sokolov worked as a doctor before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It is reported that when they ran out of medical supplies, they began to collect money and purchase medicines for the city’s residents who were in need of treatment.
It comes as the regional governor in Kharkiv said today that Russian artillery and tanks launched over 20 strikes on the city and its outskirts in the country’s northeast over the past 24 hours.
In a town southeast of the city, Oleh Synyehubov said Russian troops fired on a convoy of buses that was trying to evacuate patients from a hospital that had been heavily damaged in shelling a day earlier.
People celebrated along with the couple in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on their special day while surrounded by ongoing war outside
Several proposals have also taken place, including one soldier who staged a military search so he could surprise his girlfriend as she was driven through a checkpoint in the city of Fastiv, near Kyiv. Anastasia and Anton pictured after tying the knot
The bride, who wore a black leather jacket and flower crown for the day, and the groom, who donned a black jacket and white shirt, celebrated in the street where they had photos taken amongst the rubble
The couple were medical volunteers, a nurse and a doctor before the Russian invasion
Ukrainian couples who were due to tie the knot before the invasion have been sharing how they’ve refused to let the conflict change their plans since it started five weeks ago
Synyehubov said about 70 patients needed to be taken away from the damaged hospital in Balakliya, but that the buses were not able to enter the town.
Kharkiv has yet to experience the withdrawal of Russian forces, as has happened around the capital, Kyiv.
But that failed to prevent Nastya and Anton celebrating their nuptials, just the latest couple to tie the knot despite the onslaught from Russian forces.
Ukrainian couples who were due to tie the knot before the invasion have been sharing how they’ve refused to let the conflict change their plans since it started five weeks ago.
National Guard of Ukraine members Oleksandr and Olena, kiss at their wedding last month
A woman named Yaroslava Fedorash is seen kissing her uniformed new husband after she decided to bring forward her wedding, saying: ‘During the war, you only have today’
Several proposals have also taken place, including one soldier who staged a military search so he could surprise his girlfriend as she was driven through a checkpoint in the city of Fastiv, near Kyiv.
For some, there is an urgency to cement relationships.
Last month, Ukraine’s head of the Center for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Matviichuk, shared a touching photo on Twitter of a woman named Yaroslava Fedorash kissing her uniformed new husband.
Explaining the wedding had been brought forward, the post read: ‘We applied on April 29, I always wanted to get married on this day.
‘But on February 24, Putin went completely insane. The groom joined the territorial defence, I became a volunteer. It didn’t make sense to wait any longer.’
She finished the message with the poignant words: ‘During the war you have only today.’
