'Later Might Never Happen': Ukraine's Wartime Wedding Rush

Ukrainian serviceman Vitaliy, 25, kisses his wife moments after the pair exchanged vows in Kyiv on July 23.

Since the Russian invasion on February 24 Ukraine has seen an unprecedented rush to the altar: 9,120 marriages have been registered in the past five months in Kyiv, compared to 1,110 registered during the same period of 2021.
 

National Guard fighters wed at an undisclosed location on March 8, shortly after the Russian invasion began.

Another young groom in Kyiv named Vitaliy (not pictured), recently told AFP the decision to marry now is “the bravest and hardest step you can take” because of the uncertainty of war. “I could leave for the front at any time,” he added.

Mykhaylo and Anastasia Dewberry pose in front of a damaged building after being married in Bucha, near Kyiv, on May 26.

Wedding offices in Bucha and the nearby town of Irpin were reopened in May after Russian troops abandoned their advance on Kyiv.
 

Newlywed soldiers embrace after exchanging vows in the Brovary region, near Kyiv, during the Russian encirclement of the Ukrainian capital.

The pair, who asked not to be named, first met in eastern Ukraine in 2015 while fighting against Russia-backed separatists. They started a relationship after reuniting by chance amid the 2022 Russian invasion.
 

Nastya Gracheva and Anton Sokolov pose for their wedding photos in a damaged courtyard of Kharkiv on April 3. The nurse and doctor together provided free medical care and raised money for medicines needed by people in their city.

National Guard serviceman Ihor and his bride, Kira, emerge from the basement of a wedding venue in Kharkiv on June 23. Marriage ceremonies in the eastern city are now often held underground as a precaution against potential shelling.

Yevhen Levchenko and Nadia Prytula wait to be married in Irpin on June 21. Immediately after the ceremony, the newlyweds were forced to separate. Nadia left Ukraine to study abroad while Yevhen was required to stay behind due to the ban on most men leaving Ukraine.
 

Ukrainian serviceman "Karp" and his wife, Anna, a volunteer, are led by a priest during their marriage ceremony in the Kharkiv region on July 24.

The massive surge in weddings in Ukraine has historical precedent. At the height of World War II in 1942, the United States saw 1.8 million weddings in 12 months -- an 83 percent increase from a decade earlier.

Lesia Ivashchenko and Valeriy Fylymonov, both members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces, listen to a priest during their wedding at a checkpoint in Kyiv on March 6.

Dariya Steniukova, 31, poses for wedding pictures in her bombed flat in Vinnytsya on July 16. A missile hit the city, 200 kilometers southwest of Kyiv, a day before Steniukova's wedding was scheduled. The yoga instructor said she and her fiancée were determined to press ahead with the ceremony despite the attack, which killed 26 people. "My house was ruined but not our lives," she told AFP.

"It was a defiant message to the whole world -- stressing how strong Ukrainians are. We are ready to get married even with rockets flying over our heads," she said.