Igor, a 40 year-old Ukranian soldier embraces his wife in front of his military basement in the center of Odessa on March 17, 2022. Odessa, which Ukraine fears could be the next target of Russia's offensive in the south, is the country's main port and is vital for its economy. But the city of one million people close to the Romanian and Moldovan borders also holds a special place in the Russian imagination. (Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP Photo)

Sniper of the 1st brigade of National Guard "Bureviy' takes part in a military training in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on July 9, 2024. Ukrainian snipers are highly trained and capable of causing damage, and are therefore a priority target for Russian troops. Their frontline tasks include shooting down soldiers at Russian observation posts, providing observation to assist artillery fire, and stopping Russian waves when they attack. (Photo by Pablo Miranzo/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The European Football Championship will take place in Donetsk 2012. The city is currently home to two major professional football teams in Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalurh Donetsk, both of which currently play in the Ukrainian Premier League. (Photo by: LancerenoK; Source: Flickr)

Abandoned Armoured Repair Plant in Kharkiv (Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine) June 1, 2012. (Photo by Pasha Itkin; Source: LiveJournal).

A Dutch Military Policeman, left inside, guards part of the reconstructed cockpit, right, and forward section of the fuselage after the Dutch Safety Board presented it's final report into what caused Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to break up high over Eastern Ukraine last year, killing all 298 people on board, during a press conference in Gilze-Rijen, central Netherlands, Tuesday, October 13, 2015. (Photo by Peter Dejong/AP Photo)

Actress with the Donbass Opera Theatre prepares to perform Eugene Onegin in Donetsk, Ukraine, Saturday, February 7, 2015. For the few dozen spectators that turn up, the weekly performances at the city's opera house serve as a respite from the war raging outside between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces. (Photo by Petr David Josek/AP Photo)

Female metro passengers hold flowers presented to them by metro workers, prior to International Women's Day in Kiev, Ukraine, 02 March 2016. The hustle and bustle of the morning commute is broken up by an unexpected surprise. The first passengers to step on the train receive – a warm welcome and a pot of flowers. One woman says, “It's very nice. All the running around and then you're given a flower, it's not often. It's very nice. I'm going to take care of this flower”. International Women's Day first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century, in North America and across Europe, it is celebrated on March 08 in many countries around the world. (Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA)

A stuffed rabbit doll sits among children's beds standing in the abandoned kindergarten of Kopachi village located inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone on September 29, 2015 near Chornobyl, Ukraine. Kopachi, a village that before 1986 had a population of 1,114, lies only a few kilometers south of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where in 1986 workers inadvertantly caused reactor number four to explode, creating the worst nuclear accident in history. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)