‘We had a beautiful life before the invasion. That’s why it was such a shock’
A Ukrainian couple’s brief reunion went viral online. Campbell Macdiarmid spoke to them by video call
Before Maxim Lietova deployed to the front lines against the Russian invasion yesterday, the 38-year-old father of two hitchhiked 500 miles across Ukraine to see his family for just one day.
If the visit seemed fleeting, it was far longer than the 20 minutes he was able to spend with his wife, Olga, when she drove a similar distance to see him as he returned from military training in the UK last month.
A video Olga posted of their emotional reunion caught the attention of more than two million people online to the bemusement of Maxim, who does not use social media.
For Olga, 33, its popularity was obvious. “It’s not just our story, it’s the story of so many Ukrainian families,” she said, holding her husband’s hand in their home in western Ukraine the night before he left for war the first time.
Up to one million Ukrainians are serving in uniform, according to the country’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, with hundreds of thousands serving away from their families.
Since Russia invaded in February, many Ukrainian soldiers have been fighting without a rotation home.
Speaking via video call, the couple said they knew when Maxim departed on Tuesday morning, he might not return home again for a long time.
He was nonetheless clear in his motivation. “I think it’s the duty of every man in Ukraine to defend our motherland,” the shaven-headed citizen soldier said.
“How would my wife and children look at me if I were afraid of an air raid siren?”
Before the invasion Maxim worked as a sales manager for Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, but he said that as he awoke to bombs falling on Feb 24 he knew immediately he would sign up to fight. It took longer to convince his wife, though.
“I decided then at 5am but my responsibility to my wife and children stopped me for some time,” he said.
The pair attended the same school in Kryvyi Rih – the central Ukrainian hometown of Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president – but did not get together until 10 years ago.
“It wasn’t love at first sight,” said Olga. “It was late love.”
Maxim has a slightly different perspective. “Deep in my soul I knew for a long time she was the one. I was sure that she would be mine.”
Marriage and two children followed: Masha and Mishka, who are six and two respectively.
“We had a beautiful life before the invasion,” said Olga, whose social media posts show her and her children wearing elegant outfits, posing with birthday cakes and flowers, and dressing up for Hallowe’en and Christmas.
“We were seeing Ukraine getting better,” she said, hand on her heart. “That’s why the invasion was such a shock for us.”
It was to defend this life that Maxim signed up in March. With no military experience, he enlisted as a gunner and was sent to the UK for training.
For security reasons he declined to discuss the training he had received, other than to say that it was “really top-level”.
He said seeing expressions of solidarity with Ukraine in Britain had been heartening.
“We felt really supported when we were out training in the fields: we’d see a lot of houses flying Ukrainian flags in the villages – that was just so great to see,” he said.
But being away from his family had been difficult, said Maxim, a stoic who leant out of frame when welling emotion threatened his composure.
When he returned to Ukraine, Olga surprised him by driving more than 450 miles to see him.
The video she posted afterwards showed their reunion: Olga running along a dirt road in a blue dress towards Maxim, who is loaded with bags, walking with his comrades. When she reaches him, Maxim sweeps her off her feet into a tight embrace.
“This 20 minutes we had together had an incalculable value for us,” said Olga. “Ten years together and never more than two days apart.”
Maxim still had not seen his children since March, so when he had been offered a brief window of leave before his deployment he had not hesitated to travel with a friend through the night.
“I did everything I could to get home,” he said, describing an itinerary that involved public transport, walking and hitching lifts with truck drivers.
He eventually arrived home at 6am and was able to surprise Masha and Mishka as they woke up.
‘It’s not just our story, it’s the story of so many Ukrainian families’
‘When we were training in the UK, we saw houses flying Ukrainian flags in the villages. That was great’
He would never again take such moments for granted, he said.
“When I was a child and my mum and dad said ‘goodnight’ to us, we didn’t understand the importance of this gesture. Now this phrase has greater meaning for me,” he said.
“Now I wish for all the world to go to sleep under a peaceful sky.”
Maxim will enter the fight at a difficult time in the war. Six months after the invasion, the warring sides are locked in a phase of attrition and stalemate, something Ukrainian forces are trying to break with a major counteroffensive around Kherson.
The motivation of Ukrainian soldiers like Maxim could prove decisive. While Russian state media has claimed that the prolonged fighting has impacted the morale of Ukrainian soldiers to the extent that some units have refused to fight, Ukrainian officials dismiss this as disinformation.
Ukrainian soldiers that The Daily Telegraph spoke to recently insisted that their will to fight was high, despite months without a break
“When attacks are ongoing like these, nobody will get a rotation home,” said Phoenix, a 25-year-old soldier deployed along the Kherson front. “I’m okay without it.”
Sergii, a 28-year-old serving near the Kherson front, was emphatic. “It’s too early to think about rest. First we need to break these assholes.”
His last leave had been for two days to see his wife just over three months earlier, he said. “We’re tired, of course, but we’re still making it difficult for the enemy.”