Kathrine Frich
Ukraine is confronting not only battlefield losses but also a deepening demographic challenge.
With thousands killed and millions displaced, officials are backing an unusual program aimed at safeguarding the country’s future generations.
According to a BBC report, Ukraine is funding sperm freezing for active-duty soldiers, allowing them to preserve the possibility of fatherhood even if they are killed or injured in combat.
The initiative, first launched by private fertility clinics in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion, was later formalised by parliament, which introduced state funding and legal regulations for cryopreservation.
‘Survival of our nation’
Maxim, a 35-year-old National Guard soldier stationed near the eastern front, decided to freeze his sperm after encouragement from his wife.
“Our men are dying. The Ukrainian gene pool is dying. This is about the survival of our nation,” he told the BBC by phone from his position.
He said constant danger from drones and the stress of frontline conditions can affect reproductive health.
“That means stress, and that [can have] an impact: your reproductive capacity decreases. So we need to think about the future and the future of our Ukrainian nation.”
Under current rules, samples are stored free of charge.
After public backlash over an earlier provision requiring destruction of samples if a donor died, lawmakers amended the legislation to allow partners to use them for up to three years after death, provided there was written consent.
Law and loss
“Our soldiers defend our future, but they can also lose theirs, so we wanted to give them this chance,” said MP Oksana Dmitrieva, who helped draft the law. “It’s a small step to improve the demographic situation.”
Ukraine was already facing population decline before the invasion.
The war has accelerated the trend, with many young men killed and millions, mostly women, living abroad as refugees.
At Kyiv’s state-run Center for Reproductive Medicine, director Oksana Holikova said demand is expected to rise. “We expect a high demand. We have high hopes.”
The program has not been without complications. Katerina Malyshko fought a legal battle after her husband, Vitaly, was killed in combat, initially preventing her from using their frozen embryos.
“I would have kept them,” she said. “But I wasn’t allowed to use them.”
After months in court, a judge ruled in her favour.
“I read the ruling and I sat there and cried. Because it was our family. We had waited so long and we had been through so much…”
Sources: BBC, Ziare.com.
