Nataliia Melnychuk
Wife of a servicemember
In April 2022, a stranger messaged Nataliia Melnychuk: he was just passing through the
city and invited her for coffee. At that time, her life felt like hell — only half a year had passed since her husband, the father of their five children, had been killed in a car accident.
She didn’t understand how to live during the war or how to provide for her family, but she
knew one thing for certain: shutting herself within four walls and deepening her isolation
was a dead end.
So she agreed to meet, but decided to be completely upfront from the start. Before the coffee, Nataliia said it as it was: she was seven years older than Oleh and had five children, including Zlata, who has Down syndrome.
At the meeting, Oleh responded with the same honesty: he shared that he had lived through the occupation in the Kharkiv region, had been married before, and had come to Kryvyi Rih to deliver a car for friends. The next day, what was meant to be a short meeting stretched into four hours: he admitted he was going to volunteer for military service. During the entire five-hour drive back to Kharkiv, they stayed on the phone. That was when Oleh asked directly:
— Will you wait for me?
— I will.
Their communication moved online, and in September, when Nataliia came to visit, Oleh proposed. She took it without excessive romanticism — in a highly pragmatic way. She even wrote down all the future challenges on paper: her studies, her work in the charity foundation she founded, “Formula 47,” and the complexity of a long-distance relationship.
«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».
Their honeymoon lasted less than five days — Oleh was urgently called back to his unit. Life returned to an online format, but now it included a father: Oleh officially adopted the children.
In August 2024, Oleh’s crew came under attack from an enemy “Lancet” drone. Despite burns and an Ilizarov apparatus on his legs, he returned to service. Although he had the right to demobilize as a father of many children and as a wounded soldier, he chose to continue serving.
They plan their future after the war clearly. First — to finish building their home. Second — to open a car service business for Oleh. Third — Nataliia, who has won a grant and is training as a pastry chef, plans to open a café in Kryvyi Rih. It will be an inclusive space where people with Down syndrome, including her daughter Zlata, will be able to work.
«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».