Maryna
Usenko
Wife of a servicemember tortured in captivity
“My husband is a career officer of the Ukrainian Marine Corps,” Maryna Usenko says with pride. Her voice carries equal parts strength and tenderness.
Their story began in civilian life. At 18, Bohdan — whose grandfather, an aviation colonel, was his role model — could not immediately enter a military academy due to financial constraints. So he chose to complete his conscript service and later signed a contract. While waiting to be called up, he got a job at a call center, where Maryna was his supervisor.
When Bohdan left for the army, Maryna did not promise to wait. Everything changed in Kerch, at his oath ceremony. Seeing him on the parade ground in his formal uniform, she felt as if scenes from a movie had become real: “He’s walking toward me. I look at him and think: ‘I won’t give him to anyone. He’s mine, that’s it.’” Later, in Feodosia, when they stepped into a church during his leave, Maryna gave the soldier her word that she would wait for him.
The Usenko family lived the familiar life of a military family: Feodosia, Lviv, Mykolaiv. It was in Mykolaiv, near her husband’s unit, that Maryna — together with their two daughters — was overtaken by the full-scale war. At that time, Bohdan was already defending Mariupol.
When the city came under heavy shelling, Maryna evacuated the children and their cat to Bohdan’s parents in Cherkasy. She always held to one principle: a wife is a reliable rear. “I told him more than once: ‘No matter what happens, we will be okay — we’ll manage, we’ll get through this. You just take care of yourself.’”
On April 12, 2022 — their wedding day — Bohdan was taken captive. His group attempted to break out from the Illich Iron and Steel Works, and he stayed behind to cover his comrades’ retreat. At the time, authorities and international negotiators promised a quick return for the defenders, but reality proved otherwise. The Russians showed Usenko in a video in the so-called “DPR.” After that, contact was lost: no calls or letters, only fragmented updates from those who were later exchanged.
Maryna’s body could not withstand the stress. A week after the news of his captivity, an ambulance took her away: she went to bed in the evening and in the morning could not get up. For a year, doctors struggled with an unknown illness, treating only the symptoms. She lost 60% of her hair — emotionally, this was the hardest, as Bohdan adored her braids and had asked her never to cut them.
But Maryna found the strength to act. Together with other women, she co-founded the NGO “Families of Officers and Artillerymen of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade.” She did not attend prisoner exchanges in order to protect her mental health, but did everything she could on the home front.
«I asked for honesty and openness: if something doesn’t feel right to you or to me, we talk about it. We are adults, and we understand that beyond romance, married life includes challenges, crises, and differences in character. If we approach it consciously, everything can be worked through».
The past year brought only bad news. There were reports of detention in Kamyshin, later in colonies in the Perm region, including Kizel — from where the body of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was returned. Almost no one came back alive from there.
After long months of silence, Maryna received news. The truth was unbearable: Bohdan was killed in captivity in April 2025.
«I asked for honesty and openness: if something doesn’t feel right to you or to me, we talk about it. We are adults, and we understand that beyond romance, married life includes challenges, crises, and differences in character. If we approach it consciously, everything can be worked through».