'This situation is hard': Ukrainian couple ties the knot amid sirens and Russian bombings
While Russia attacked their country on Thursday, February 24, Ukrainian couple Yaryna Arieva and her boyfriend Sviatoslav Fursin rushed to St Michael's monastery to tie the knot. The couple met in October 2019 at a protest in the center of Kyiv. Arieva and Fursin rushed to get married because they were not sure what their future held.
"That was very scary. It's the happiest moment of your life, and you go out, and you hear that," 21-year-old Arieva told CNN. The two of them had planned to tie the knot on May 6 and celebrate at a restaurant with a "very, very cute terrace" overlooking the Dnieper river. "Just us and the river and beautiful lights," the Ukrainian couple revealed what they had envisioned. On February 23, journalists captured air raid sirens going off for the first time since WW2 in Kyiv and several other cities, as Russia began its assault with a series of rocket launches into Ukraine.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine and the attack began hours before dawn with a series of missile attacks on major cities in the country. "The situation is hard. We are going to fight for our land. We maybe can die, and we just wanted to be together before all of that," said Arieva, a deputy on the Kyiv City Council. Their quaint wedding plans now all out thrown out of gear because of the sudden onslaught. However, the duo are determined.
After their wedding, Arieva and Fursin prepared to go to the local Territorial Defense Center to join efforts to help defend the country. "We have to protect it. We have to protect the people we love and the land we live on. I hope for the best, but I do what I can to protect my land. Maybe they will just give us armor and we will go and fight. Maybe we will help with something else. They will decide," said Arieva.
Arieva described her 24-year-old husband Fursin, who is a software engineer, as her 'closest friend on the Earth' and hopes they will be able to celebrate their marriage one day. "Maybe they (Russia) will just get out from our country and we will have an ability to celebrate normally," wished Arieva.
"I just hope that everything will go normal and we will have our land, we will have our country safe and happy without any Russians in it," she added.
Users on the Internet commented on their union and sent best wishes. One user said, "Love conquers all, even war," while another wrote, "For better or worse..in peace and in war... until death do us part." A third replied, "I wish them a safe and dignified life for them and for all the people of Ukraine."
A senior defense official USA, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that so far Russia had fired more than 160 missiles at Ukrainian targets. Ukrainian forces have battled Russian invaders on three sides after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air.