Ukrainians Try to Keep Spirits Up at Christmas After Difficult Year

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine—Since her first child was born, Svitlana has spent every Christmas with her daughter—until this one. Now a soldier, Svitlana, who declined to give her surname, is spending the holiday on duty close to the front lines in southern Ukraine.

“It’s hard when you’re constantly with your kid for nine years and now you have to be separated,” said Svitlana, 35 years old, who joined the army over the summer and works to keep troops in the trenches supplied. “I try to keep those difficult emotions inside,” she said.

For Ukrainian soldiers and civilians alike, the second Christmas of full-scale war is more difficult than the first.

ukrainians try to keep spirits up at christmas after difficult year

Earlier this year, Ukrainians were hopeful the war would be over by now. They had routed Russian forces in the northeast and the south last fall, reclaiming thousands of square miles of territory, and believed an influx of Western tanks and other weapons could help them finish the job.

Instead, Ukraine’s counteroffensive advanced barely 10 miles. Western aid has slowed to a trickle and Kyiv’s troops are now digging defensive positions, bracing for another Russian assault.

“It seems like it won’t be over in the near future,” said Viktoria Tkachenko, 50, following a Christmas Eve church service in Zaporizhzhia. “We don’t really have a Christmas mood, compared to last year. We feel tired.”

During nearly two years of war, almost all of the country’s Christmas rituals have been upended.

In an effort to separate themselves from Moscow, both Ukraine’s government and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine—the country’s largest denomination—have moved Christmas celebrations to Dec. 25, as in the West, ending a tradition of celebrating the holiday in January.

ukrainians try to keep spirits up at christmas after difficult year

Millions of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have fled the country since the invasion in February 2022. Hundreds of thousands of troops will spend the holidays at their posts.

As a result, family separations at the holiday have become the norm.

Alla Khilay’s husband and older son are both fighting in Ukraine’s east, while her younger son is now living in the Czech Republic. She sent care packages to them, with nuts and sweets, but won’t be able to see any of them over the holidays, adding that she is spending it with several friends in Zaporizhzhia instead.

“They try to call me every day, but they don’t always have signal,” Khilay, 47, said. Air-raid sirens screeched as she spoke—they are so common that most residents now ignore them.

In his nightly address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the challenges his country is facing.

“How our wishes have changed. How children’s wishes have changed,” he said. “From the simple and usual ‘I wish for dad to come home early from work’ to ‘I wish for dad to come back.’ ”

ukrainians try to keep spirits up at christmas after difficult year

Some troops have tried to bring the Christmas spirit to the front.

Ukrainian officials are circulating video of soldiers singing Christmas songs from trenches near Bakhmut, a city in the country’s east that was almost completely flattened during Russia’s assault last winter. Videos also circulated on social media Sunday showing Ukrainian troops firing a rockets from a Himars launcher decked out in Christmas lights.

At the house where Svitlana is billeted in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, she and her fellow soldiers have put up a small artificial Christmas tree, decorated with blue and yellow ornaments. Four of them share two bedrooms, plus a small kitchen, its floor covered in mud from the sodden dirt road outside.

Rifles and body armor hang from nails over the door frame. The walls are covered with a silvery material that resembles tinsel, though it is actually makeshift insulation to keep the Ukrainian winter out. Scented candles and chocolate sat on the table.

Two of the soldiers work as cooks, and the group was trying to assemble ingredients for traditional holiday dishes, like caviar with black bread. A small pig is kept in a pen around the corner, which a number of the troops in the area are considering cooking for Christmas dinner, though they said they may save it for New Year—traditionally a larger celebration in Ukraine, as in many post-Soviet countries.

ukrainians try to keep spirits up at christmas after difficult year

“The idea is to have dinner just with the four of us,” Svitlana said. “We don’t have the opportunity to celebrate with our families. So we’re gathering in a small circle with the people closest to us.”

The four soldiers in the house have bought small presents for each other as well, like mugs with their battalion’s logo on them.

Another soldier in the house, Vadim, who asked that his surname not be used, has been dating Svitlana for several months. The 35-year-old said he was looking for a special present for her, though his options were limited by circumstance.

The commander of a unit that repairs military vehicles, Vadim said he hadn’t seen his 4-year-old son since May 2022, when his ex-wife moved with the boy to Germany. “Of course on Christmas, I’ll call him,” he said.

Svitlana said she sent money to her mother to buy a smartwatch for her daughter. She plans to call them on Christmas so she can see her daughter’s reaction when she opens her presents.

“Of course my daughter is a little sad, but she understands,” Svitlana said. “She’s very proud. She tells her classmates her mother is defending Ukraine.”

Nikita Nikolaienko contributed to this article.

Write to Ian Lovett at [email protected]

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