Ukraine s Single Mothers Forced to Become Refugees Are the Heart of the War
LUBLIN, Poland Liza Bodnaruk was 15 when she met Igor Moroz, a 17-year-old senior in school. They skipped classes together and hung out at the beach in Odesa, Ukraine, a city on the Black Sea built by Catherine the Great and a favorite among tourists. They quarreled and made up and made promises. It was love at first sight. They thought marriage was too old-fashioned, but they eventually tied the knot a month before their son arrived. Everything was going well, and they had even saved up to buy a new house, when suddenly the Russian president declared war on their country.
The moment Liza heard the first airstrikes crash through the quiet winter skies in late February, she was confronted with the hardest decision of her life: stand by her husband and her country to fight the Russians or run from the bombs as far as she can to protect their 4-month-old baby? Liza and Igor, childhood sweethearts, had to split, and it has been tears all the way since.