Before going to fight, many Ukrainians are freezing their sperm

Natalia Kyrkach-Antonenko found out within two hours of it happening. An artillery strike. Shrapnel to the head. Death in seconds. Volunteers identified her husband Vitaly by his devilish looks and long hair; his “Beautiful” was no accident. One telephone call later, and Ms Kyrkach-Antonenko’s dreams of a family together were gone. But she had prepared for the eventuality. Now she intends to raise a family alone using sperm the couple froze on one of Vitaly’s two rotations back home. In an emotional appeal on social media, written a month after her husband’s death, she urged other couples to take out the same insurance policy. “It could be your only chance. Think and don’t put it off, I beg you.”Russian tanks brought Ukraine’s booming fertility industry to a shuddering stop in February. The clinics reopened in April to a changed world. Previously the customers were typically foreigners, taking advantage of Ukraine’s liberal rules on surrogacy. Now they are often Ukrainian couples, anxious because the husband has to go and fight. Mother and Child, the country’s largest fertility clinic, launched a programme to meet the new demand, encouraging servicemen and women to freeze their sperm or eggs free of charge, lest they be injured or killed on the front. Their partners were offered large discounts on assisted-conception programmes that usually cost between $1,300 and $4,000. The most needy were given the treatment free. Doctors called the initiative “Hero Nation”, a nod to the growing number of babies conceived to dead or seriously injured parents. They credit the programme with helping the clinic return to roughly 80% of its pre-war capacity.