Ukraine, the story of Galina and Mykola: captured in the battle of Azovstal they meet again after 20 months of Russian captivity and get married

Galina Fedyshyn, a Ukrainian combat medic from the Marine Brigade freed from Russian captivity on January 3, has announced her marriage to her fellow soldier Mykola Hrytsenyak. Serhiy Volynsky, commander of the 36th Marine Brigade, revealed it on his social media channels. According to Volyn, the couple fought together in the battles for Mariupol, surviving the ordeal of captivity and a long separation. «This love has survived trials that can break the strongest. A couple of Ukrainian marines proved that true feelings know no barriers, even when it is 'hell on earth,'” the commander wrote. Volyna added that Galina Fedyshyn was the last female Marine to be held captive by the Russian enemy.

According to Army.Inform, Galina is a native of the Ivano-Frankivsk region and comes from a large family: her parents raised five sons and four daughters. The girl signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2016. Before that, she had worked as a nurse in a civilian hospital for a year. In October 2016, Galina traveled to Luhansk Oblast as part of a medical and nursing team from the Vinnytsia Mobile Hospital. There you participated in the evacuation of wounded soldiers to a medical facility and provided first aid. Later, Galina joined the ranks of Rear Admiral Mykhailo Bilynskyi's Separate Marine Brigade, where she continued saving lives of Ukrainian soldiers as a combat medic.

In the trenches on the demarcation line in Donetsk Oblast, Galina found love: Marine Mykola Hrytseniak. With the Russian invasion and under pressure from the enemy, their unit retreated from positions near Mariupol towards the territory of the Ilyich Steel Works and then towards Azovstal. During the fighting, the girl was injured several times. In May 2022, together with Mykola and other colleagues, she was taken prisoner in Azovstal. During the period behind bars the couple had no contact of any kind and no news of their partner. After 20 months of separation, Mykola returned from captivity and only then could he discover that Galina was alive, so at their first meeting he asked her to marry him. The touching video quickly made the rounds on the web.