Mariia Vyhivska and Iurii Kurochkin. Photo by AP
Mariia Vyhivska and Iurii Kurochkin, both 23, fell in love while playing an online video game. But the conflict between Russia and Ukraine threatened to ruin their relationship before it even began. They boldly turned their backs on the war hatred that enveloped their homeland and chose to stay together despite facing a lot of pressure.
Vyhivska lives in Zvyagel, near the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and Kurochkin lives in St. Petersburg of Russia. Despite the seemingly insurmountable distance, the couple did not give up.
“It’s not difficult,” Vyhivska said with a smile. “I’m not afraid, not at all. I’m happy because I’m loved.”
Kurochkin recalls how the couple started planning a face-to-face meeting: “It was a year ago… I started arranging my international passport to visit Mariia in Ukraine.”
It seemed all hopes of a meeting had been dashed as Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine drew global condemnation and saw millions of Ukrainian refugees flee abroad.
Vyhivska moved to Czechia shortly after the war started while Kurochkin was in Russia. But they didn’t give up. Kurochkin said they started calculating “several options for living together”.
The answer turned out to be Serbia, a country in the Balkans that remains Russia-friendly and where Russians can enter without a visa. The Serbian capital Belgrade is where Vyhivska and Kurochkin first met.
“I arrived in Serbia on April 27 and I waited for her for a few days,” Kurochkin said. “She came from the Czech Republic and we met at the central bus station.”
He was everything she imagined, Vyhivska said.
Vyhivska said: “There was a moment of unbelievable joy. I went for 16 hours and couldn’t sleep. So I got off the bus and jumped into his arms.”
Their new life together began right then and there. A dormitory used to be their first place before the couple found a small apartment on the outskirts of Belgrade. They took on various jobs while pursuing IT studies online at a university in St. Petersburg.
Cohabitation is not without problems. Last July, extremists in Serbia painted a giant Z sign – the symbol of Russia’s war – on their building and the attackers broke into their apartment. Kurochkin said they were also attacked by a group of thugs.
An estimated 200,000 Russians and about 20,000 Ukrainians have traveled to Serbia in the past year. Many Russians set up businesses in the Balkan country, which has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia despite wanting to become a member of the European Union.
Kurochkin said: “Sometimes we talk about war but we don’t have a problem with each other. With others, of course (we have), because there are so many people, so many views, it’s impossible. be able to handle it.”
For Vyhivska, the biggest concern is how she will be perceived by other Ukrainians because of her relationship, which even her own family has no objections to.
“What happens next? We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, there is even a risk of nuclear war, they are threatening us with that. I can’t look too far into the future. ahead,” Vyhivska said.
Kurochkin said they’ll take things as they come: “We’re happy to be together.”