Ukrainian couple reunites after 4 years of separation

Larysa Ryndova ran to meet her husband as if they were going out for a first date — makeup and a touch of perfume in the car. It was the first time she had seen Serhiy, 68, in four and a half years — time he had spent in prison with other people in the Russian-controlled southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Larysa, 72, repeated nonstop, her mascara blurred by tears after they hugged outside a hospital in Kiev. “I honestly can’t believe it myself,” Serhiy replied.

Separation Forced by War

They last met in 2022, when Larysa fled to England to live with her son, three months after the beginning of the occupation, following the total invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Serhiy stayed to take care of the family home, ending up trapped in the city full of landmines laid by the Russians and facing an increasingly serious humanitarian crisis.

"We were expecting something better. At the end of the day, it got 'better,'" he said sarcastically. The residents of Oleshky described what it was like to live under constant drone attacks and without electricity or heating. The situation worsened further this spring, when food deliveries were halted.

Negotiated withdrawal and reunion day

Serhiy was able to leave on October 30 with hundreds of other residents, withdrawn during a ceasefire that the US first lady, Melania Trump, helped negotiate, with the additional participation of Pope Leo. Despite all the joy of seeing Larysa—and the prospect of reuniting with her three children and six grandchildren—he considered her escape from Oleshky a devastating experience.

“Your heart breaks just thinking about leaving everything behind. How is that possible? His house, his family, the cemetery — all his relatives are there,” he said. "How are you going to visit their tombs, take care of them?"

2,000 km journey to embrace

While Oleshky's withdrawns were transported by buses and airplanes through occupied territories, through Russia and Belarus, Larysa set out on her own 2,000-kilometre journey to find Serhiy and take him back with her to the United Kingdom. "How down he seems," she said as she saw the first photos of her husband crossing the border into Ukraine. "It's hard to recognize him."

Life in the "death zone"

Serhiy called Oleshky a "death zone" where life under occupation could depend on the mood of a single Russian soldier. He survived thanks to the humanitarian aid he had stockpiled during the occupation —noodles, grains, and sometimes canned meat and fish. He tried to fry flatbreads with the flour he kept before the war, full of gourds.

"Around April, the people who used to bring us food died — two men. After that, all food deliveries stopped completely. There was nothing," Serhiy said as he drank a cup of coffee in Kiev. The locals shared what they had. Some took the dangerous 20 km journey on foot or by bike to Radensk in search of supplies. The rare foods were sold at exorbitant prices.

Collapse of services and abandoned bodies

The local hospital ran out of supplies. The bodies accumulated in the morgue, as forensic experts refused to risk the trip to the city to perform autopsies. "The bodies are simply thrown in there. When my neighbor died, I carried his body, and the smell was absolutely horrible," Serhiy said. "God forbid me!"

Serhiy said he probably wouldn’t have left the city on his own if it wasn’t for the withdrawal. Landmines were placed on all roads and even in the city. The reunion of the couple, marked by tears and hugs, is a glimpse of hope amidst the suffering caused by the war. The source did not detail the next steps of the family, but it is expected that Serhiy will continue with Larysa to the United Kingdom, where he can be reunited with his children and grandchildren.

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