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Olha (35) and Yuri (44), who have been together for 16 years, are wed at Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints in Bucha, Ukraine, on June 14. Yuri was granted 10 days of leave from his post in Luhansk. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

“Let us pray to God, and may His grace be with you.”

Yuri, aged 44, came home on 10 days of leave from service on the front lines in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, where the Russian and Ukrainian forces are locked in fierce conflict. Yuri and his wife Olha had decided to use his leave to take care of something they’d been putting off.

At 2 pm on Tuesday, Yuri and Olha held their second wedding, marking 16 years of marriage, at the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints, a Ukrainian Orthodox church, in Bucha, about 30 kilometers northwest of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Olha and Yuri take the sacrament of matrimony at the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints in Bucha, Ukraine, on June 14. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

Yuri arrived at the ceremony in his military fatigues. “I’m currently serving on the front lines, and I have to go back right after [the ceremony],” he told a Hankyoreh reporter who was at the church.

An insignia reading “Border Guard Service,” in Ukrainian, was pinned on the right chest of Yuri’s uniform. Olha was wearing a white dress and a veil embroidered with flowers.

“Congratulations on your marriage. I hope your lives will be filled with peace and harmony. May God give you patience and good fortune.”

The priest officiating Yuri and Olha’s wedding was 49-year-old Andriy Halavin.

“Life has its good times and its times of sadness. Today, we shared a glass of wine, symbolizing the destiny you share. That destiny may be sweet or bitter, just like the wine,” the priest said.

Andriy wrapped Olha’s left hand and Yuri’s right hand in a white cloth. As one might expect of an old married couple, the two were wearing wedding bands on their ring fingers, the rings worn with age.

While the two had seemed nervous throughout the ten-minute ceremony, they looked much more relaxed after it was over. They already have a 16-year-old son.

The biggest reason that Yuri and Olha moved their second wedding forward was because of the war that broke out in late February.

With Yuri fighting on the front lines, they can’t count on the future. Olha had made up her mind to receive the sacrament of holy matrimony in church, since their first wedding hadn’t taken place there.

“We already love each other, but I wanted to become closer to God,” she said.

Olha and Yuri place their hands on the Bible, during their wedding on June 14. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

But Yuri has to return to Luhansk, where the Ukrainian army’s position is gradually deteriorating. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military rejected the Russians’ demand for surrender in the hotly contested city of Severodonetsk, in western Luhansk. The fight continues, with the Ukrainian forces committed to holding the city at all costs.

Oleksandr Stryuk, military governor of Severodonetsk, said the Ukrainian forces are holding off attacks from Russian forces in several parts of the city. During an appearance on a local broadcast, Stryuk said troops in the city aren’t completely isolated, even though all bridges have been cut to the nearby city of Lysychansk.

The mayor added that the situation is difficult, but stable, and that citizens’ evacuation routes haven’t been completely blocked.

But since the fighting has now reached the streets of the city, the fate of more than 12,000 citizens stuck there is still up in the air.

The Ukrainian troops are also facing mounting losses against Russia’s overwhelming firepower.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior advisor to the Ukrainian president, said on June 9 that 100-200 Ukrainian soldiers are dying in battle each day, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said while visiting the area of Severodonetsk Tuesday that “painful losses” are continuing.

But Zelenskyy encouraged the troops to maintain their resistance in a speech on Wednesday.

“During the 112 days of this war, the Ukrainian army proved [their] courage and wisdom on the battlefield [. . .] despite the significant advantage of the Russian army in the number of soldiers and equipment,” he said.

Olha and Yuri kiss during their wedding on June 14 in Bucha, Ukraine. (Kim Hye-yun/The Hankyoreh)

One can only imagine how Yuri and Olha felt as they prepared to say goodbye, perhaps forever.

“It’s a relief to have finished this ceremony. I feel like I’ve received God’s blessing,” Yuri said.

“All I can hope is that this nightmare will end someday,” Olha said.

“Slava Ukraini!” her husband shouted.

Olha’s final words came as a surprise. “I’m glad that my husband was able to come back home on leave. I’m happy [that we could have our second wedding].”

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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