Sitting in a wine bar in Kyiv on a Saturday night, Daria, 34, opens a dating app, scrolls, then puts her phone away.
After spending more than a decade in committed relationships she's been single for a long time. I haven't had a proper date since before the war, she says.
Four years of war have forced Ukrainians to rethink nearly every aspect of daily life. Increasingly that includes decisions about relationships and parenthood – and these choices are, in turn, shaping the future of a country in which both marriage and birth rates are falling.
Millions of Ukrainian women who left at the start of the 2022 full-scale invasion have now built lives and relationships abroad. Hundreds of thousands of men are absent too, either deployed in the army or living outside the country.
For those women who stayed, the prospect of meeting somebody to start a family feels increasingly remote.
Khrystyna, 28, shares her experience of navigating dating apps without much success, highlighting the fear many men have of going out due to the danger of conscription.
Closer to the front line, soldiers like Ruslan are torn about starting new relationships, recognizing that commitments feel irresponsible given the uncertainty of their situation.
The consequences of this disruption could ripple far into Ukraine's future. Reported marriages have rapidly declined since 2022, and birth rates have drastically fallen to a record low of 0.9 children per woman. Demographers are calling this a social catastrophe of war.
Olena, a policewoman, represents the growing desperation for a family amidst the uncertainty. Yet, even her dreams of motherhood are complicated by ongoing conflict.
As the war continues, Ukraine's dwindling population raises concerns about the country’s future viability, reflecting a demographic crisis that compounds the ongoing existential threat posed by the war.
