Ukraine Is Becoming A Nation Of Widows & Orphans - CNN (Photos)
🇺🇦 Olena Bilozerska and her husband always knew they wanted children. She was 34 and they were ready to start trying when the war erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The couple joined the fight and decided a baby would have to wait. By the time Bilozerska left the military, she was 41 and told by doctors her chances of conceiving were next to none. It was too late.
With the war in Ukraine about to mark its fourth anniversary, Ukraine’s birth rate is collapsing, with increasing number of people struggling with fertility or putting off the decision to have children. At the same time, losses are mounting on the frontlines, and millions of people who have fled as refugees have now settled abroad. The result is one of the world’s worst demographic crises.
“It’s a catastrophe,” Ella Libanova, a leading Ukrainian demographer, told CNN. “No country can exist without people. Even before the war, Ukraine’s population density was low (and) very unevenly spread.”
Libanova said Ukraine has lost around 10 million people since the start of the war – between those who have been killed, left the country or are living in areas under Russian occupation. And while the country’s birthrate has been declining for years – a common trend across Europe – it has now all but collapsed.
Russia’s aggression has forced millions of Ukrainians to put their lives on hold. But for many women, this decision can come at a huge cost.
When she came back from the frontlines, Bilozerska was told that her chance of having her own baby was at best 5%. “The doctors advised me not to waste time and take a donor egg right away,” she said. Not keen on that idea, she started fertility treatment – even though the odds were stacked heavily against her.
“Soldiers live one day at a time. They live to see the evening, to see the next day. They have urgent needs – where to get money for drones, for car repairs. They do not plan anything for the future,” Bilozerska told CNN in Kyiv.
“I consider it my moral duty to tell (military) women that if they want children in the future, I would advise them to get checked and freeze their eggs. I share my story so that fewer women end up in such a predicament.”
To maximize the odds of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure being successful, doctors usually try to retrieve between 10 and 15 eggs in each cycle. In Bilozerska’s case, they managed to get just one, warning her right away that the chances of it being healthy were small. After fertilizing it with her husband’s sperm, they once again cautioned her: The risks of it not working out were high.
The next few days were torture, with the couple waiting to see if the embryo would survive. When it did, Bilozerska, then 42, was ready to take her only chance at having a baby.
That’s when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As a fully-trained military officer, Bilozerska was immediately needed back at the front. The embryo stayed in Kyiv, frozen and stored in a cryobank with roughly 10,000 others.
“I went back to war, and I was so afraid that the clinic would be bombed, I called the clinic, I asked what would happen, whether the cryobank would be taken abroad, whether it was safe,” Bilozerska told CNN. She was reassured that the clinic had a reinforced wall protecting the embryos. It wouldn’t withstand a direct hit, but it would protect them from shrapnel and debris.
Ukraine does not release its casualty data, but a report published in January by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US-based think tank, estimated that between 100,000 and 140,000 Ukrainians have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion four years ago.
The country’s relatively high draft age and the exemption of the youngest draftees from the front lines means the average age of a Ukrainian soldier is about 43 years, significantly older than in many western countries.
Because of that, most of the men and women who are losing their lives on the front lines are married with children – and Ukraine is becoming a country of widows and orphans. Official statistics show there are now 59,000 children living without their biological parents in Ukraine, most of them in foster families.
U.S Aircraft Carrier Gerald Ford On Fire, 2 Sailors Injured (Photos)
🇺🇸 A fire broke out aboard aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) on Thursday, multiple sources confirmed to USNI News.
The initial fire has been extinguished, but the crew is still doing damage control, according to a U.S. official. Naval Sea Systems Command’s Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center is preparing to help the fleet with electrical support, USNI News understands.
“On March 12, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) experienced a fire that originated in the ship’s main laundry spaces,” reads a U.S. Central Command statement posted to social media website X. “The cause of the fire was not combat-related and is contained.
There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational. Two sailors are currently receiving medical treatment for injuries and are in stable condition. Additional information will be provided when available.”
As of Wednesday, Ford was operating in the northern part of the Red Sea, off the coast of Al Wajh, Saudi Arabia, according to a ship spotter. Ford and three of its escorts – USS Mahan (DDG-72), USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) – transited the Suez Canal last week.
The Ford Carrier Strike Group has been participating in Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran that is nearing the end of its second week.
The carrier has been deployed since June of 2025 and has been extended multiple times. Last month, the Pentagon extended Ford and tasked the carrier to the Middle East ahead of the start of the war with Iran.
🇺🇸 As many as 150 U.S. troops have been wounded in the 10-day-old war with Iran, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The casualty figure has not been previously reported. Prior to Reuters' publication of the figure, the Pentagon had only disclosed eight U.S. personnel seriously injured.
In a statement after Reuters published its report, the Pentagon estimated the figure to be approximately 140 wounded and said the vast majority of them were minor.
"Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, approximately 140 U.S. service members have been wounded over 10 days of sustained attacks," said chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.
He said 108 of the wounded service members had already returned to duty. Parnell said the eight seriously wounded service members were receiving the highest level of medical care.
Reuters could not determine the types of injuries and whether they include traumatic brain injuries, which are common after exposure to blasts.
Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against U.S. military bases since the start of the conflict on Feb. 28. It has also struck diplomatic missions in Arab Gulf states as well as hotels and airports and damaged oil infrastructure.
"We have various types of underwater missiles, they (U.S) should be cautious.
There are only 2 countries in the world that have underwater missiles. One is the original missile manufacturer, which is Russia and then there's us.
In fact we have the capability to launch from a submarine to the surface. We are in a very unique position to launch underwater missiles that move at 100 meters per second.
The Americans spent $20 billion and over 15 years trying to achieve this speed underwater, they couldn’t. But the Russians achieved it. The Soviets had achieved it.
We are equipped with that missile."
JUST IN: 🇮🇷 IRGC commander says Iran is ready to use 100 m/s underwater missiles, claims only Russia and Iran have them. pic.twitter.com/vVzjpDuocW
Foreign Affairs › Ukraine Is Becoming A Nation Of Widows & Orphans - CNN (Photos) by Kaliningrad(op): 7:33pm On Mar 15
