He is commander of a battery of Grad missiles, she is first responder in his unit. Andriy and Tetiana were deployed together in Ukraine, where soldiers say many families have multiple members serving the war effort.
Near the front lines in southern Ukraine, Andriy Dolgopolov, 35, and his battery of BM-21 Grads await a Russian target.
His wife Tetiana Dolgopolova, 26, prepares coffee on a portable stove in the grass.
The couple met nearly three years ago while on duty in the eastern Donbass region, where fighting was raging well before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
Andriy and Tetiana have been side by side ever since.
“My heart is filled with love for my wife and love for the Grads,” the commander, nicknamed “Demon,” told AFP. “The most important thing is that they are not jealous of each other.”
Artillery fire was crucial in the fighting on the southern front, where the Ukrainian army has been successful in recent days.
– Three years together –
Once they spot a Russian target, they act quickly.
“Demon” hops into his compact car, Tetiana at his side, hot on the heels of the heavy six-wheeler Grad.
Once in the firing zone, Andriy gives the target coordinates and his unit fires a missile with one hell of a blast before taking cover under trees, away from Russian drones.
“It will soon be three years and every day has been like a romantic date, three years without ever breaking up: at war, at home,” says the crew-cut soldier.
Tetiana, who wears a brown cap over her long blonde hair, says she admires Andriy “as a man and as a commander.”
Both agree that one advantage of joint wars is that they always know where the other is during bombing raids.
No one would dream of having it any other way, even in peacetime.
“My husband is here, as have my colleagues for years. Leaving wouldn’t make sense,” says Tetiana.
They say they know of three couples where both partners were mobilized, and many other families have multiple members – typically brothers – who served during the war.
Tetiana’s sister is also a soldier.
– family matter –
Ukrainian army press officer who moderated the meeting for AFP, Viktor Zalevskyi, arrived with his daughter, also in uniform.
Zhana, 22, was a masseuse before the war.
In a country that, according to official figures, had around 40 million inhabitants in 2020, there are now 7.6 million refugees in Europe, according to the UN refugee agency.
According to Defense Minister Oleksey Reznikov, the security forces number one million members.
“In every Ukrainian family there is probably someone at the front,” says military spokeswoman Oksana Kobets.
Kobet’s husband is also a soldier, she says, while her eldest daughter graduates from military school and her youngest could follow.
