Rodchenko remembers having to collect hot water from troops at checkpoints to make baby formula for him.
Yevhen, or Zhenia as his mother affectionately calls him, is one of thousands of children born into Ukraine’s full-scale war, a conflict nearing its 1,000th day that has presented challenges that few young families could imagine.
In the initial panic of the invasion, Rodchenko and her children managed to escape Bucha.
The town was to become synonymous with Russian brutality when, weeks later, the corpses of dozens of civilians were discovered by the road, some apparently executed. Moscow denies killing civilians and has said the scenes in Bucha were staged.
As the reality of war gradually set in, Rodchenko, like other Ukrainians, has sought some sense of normality.
“I’m trying to make sure he has a normal childhood, not focusing his attention on air raid sirens,” she said, referring to almost daily warnings across Ukraine of incoming Russian drones and missiles.
“But when I get air raid notifications on my phone, he says: ‘Mommy, I’m scared, I’m scared.’ When the all-clear sounds, he says: ‘Cleared!’, although I think he does not fully understand what it means.”
