Two Ukrainian sisters are growing up without their dad who has been held prisoner by Russia for 19 months (Picture: Supplied)

Having spent most of her life in war, Myroslava has only one wish for the year ahead.  

The two-year-old longs to be reunited with her dad after he was captured by Russian forces during the siege of Mariupol, her former home city in southern Ukraine.  

Since being taken prisoner, Artem has only made contact with his family once — when her mum Hanna told her husband that they have a second child on the way.  

He is among the 1,600 Mariupol defenders still being held captive by Russian forces following a dogged 86-day struggle to defend the city. 

Hanna, 25, grew up in the once picturesque coastal port, where she met and married Artem and worked as a rehabilitation therapist.

The mum and their two daughters now have a transitory existence as refugees in Germany wondering if they will see him again.  

‘This will be the second New Year’s Eve for my beloved daughters without their dad, and our second New Year’s Eve without a home,’ says Hanna, who spoke under her first name.  

‘Despite our situation, no one truly understands us, as we choose not to celebrate holidays. I’ve heard countless stories of Ukrainian soldiers enduring brutal conditions in Russian captivity, including inadequate food and psychological and physical torture.  

‘Russia doesn’t comply with the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war. I don’t trust them and I think they will use Ukrainian prisoners for their own purposes as much as they can.

‘Celebration feels inappropriate for us, and Myroslava’s only wish remains unchanged. She wants her father back.’

Myroslava and Erika have their dad in their thoughts as they wait for his return from Russian captivity (Picture: Supplied)

As the first explosions rang out on February 24, 2022, the family’s life was shattered with the once-flourishing hub of trade by the Sea of Azov being reduced to dust, rubble and ruin over the following weeks.

Between April and May at least 25,000 civilians are thought by Ukrainian officials to have been killed, with the United Nations estimating that 350,000 were forced to evacuate the city. 

‘Before the full-scale Russian invasion, Mariupol experienced rapid development,’ Hanna recalls.  

‘The most significant moments in my life unfolded in Mariupol, I remember our stunning brand new pier and fabulous square near the Drama Theatre.

‘I miss my home city so much.’  

Erika is growing up in Germany as her dad remains a prisoner of the Russians following the occupation of her home city (Picture: Supplied)

Although Mariupol is close to Donetsk, which is occupied by a Russian proxy force, there was initially a high degree of confidence among residents that it could withstand an attack. 

‘No one thought that Russia could besiege the city within a few days,’ Hanna says. ‘Mariupol resembled a fortress with numerous safeguards and military forces stationed inside.’ 

Four days before the all-out invasion, Hanna saw Artem for what would be the last time as the soldier left in the early hours as usual for his duties with the Azov Brigade, a wing of the Ukrainian national guard.

He called in the evening, explaining he needed to stay longer. 

On the night of February 24, the mum and daughter were woken by explosions outside their window.  

Within a few days, essential services like water, electricity, and communication with the outside world were severed as Mariupol became the deadliest place in Ukraine up until the siege ended in mid-May. 

‘We didn’t understand what was going on,’ Hanna says.  

‘We managed to understand how many seconds we have to hide in a basement after the different kind of artillery fire.  

‘Our lives were dictated by the shelling schedule.

The family in happier times when Mariupol was a thriving hub of life on the southern Ukrainian coast (Picture: Supplied)

‘We even made a kind of joke that the Russians probably enjoyed three meals a day because we knew the exact times of silence.

‘It felt like we were living in a horror film, but in that dire reality, all we could do was hope for a quick resolution.’ 

As the encroaching Russian forces relentlessly and indiscriminately bombarded the ruined city, Hanna and Myroslava managed to flee with the help of acquaintances who provided transport.  

She escaped west to the port city of Berdyansk and then on to Zaporizhzhia, before finally finding refuge in Germany. 

‘The journey was harrowing,’ Hanna says.

‘We encountered burnt cars along the way and had to delete almost all the pictures on our phones.  

‘Our cherished memories were left behind in Mariupol.’ 

When Hanna managed to reestablish communications, she learned that her husband had been wounded in a battle.

This was the only shard of information she received before he and his comrades from different elements of the Ukrainian armed forces holed up at the Azovstal steelworks surrendered.  

Artem was among the Ukrainian soldiers who, out of ammunition and including many seriously wounded, finally emerged from the garrison. 

He surrendered to Russian captivity on May 16, 2022.  

Hanna and her eldest daughter on the pier at Mariupol before the full-scale Russian invasion (Picture: Supplied)

Hanna and Myroslava, aged nearly one, celebrate new year in January 2022 by a Christmas tree near the Drama Theatre in Mariupol (Picture: Supplied)

A German family provided refuge for Hanna and Myroslava and she gained weight as she began to recover from the trauma of escaping the warzone.  

Attending hospital for a checkup a month after her husband surrendered, she was astonished to discover that she was five months pregnant. 

‘I felt a mix of happiness and fear,’ Hanna says.  

‘I prayed for my husband’s safety, hoping it wasn’t a cruel twist of fate. I hoped God didn’t grant me a second child in place of him.’ 

On June 14, she received a call from Artem, the only time to date that she has heard her husband’s voice from captivity. She broke the news to him that he was about to become a dad for a second time.  

He is among 1,600 Ukrainian soldiers being held captive by Russia amid numerous accounts of war crimes, mistreatment and torture. 

On July 29, a building at a Russian-operated prison in Olenivka, Donetsk, was destroyed, resulting in the deaths of around 60 Ukrainian prisoners of war. The majority were troops from the Azovstal redoubt.  

Smoke rises following an explosion at the skeleton of the Azovstal steel works in besieged Mariupol (Picture: Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko)

An aerial view shows residential buildings that were damaged in the southern port city of Mariupol (Picture: Reuters/Pavel Klimov, file image)

‘It was a big stress for me. I was waiting for the list of prisoners who were there, scanning each picture, fearful of discovering my husband’s name,’ Hanna says. ‘It wasn’t until May 2023, when some of my husband’s comrades were freed, that I learned he had been wounded there, still carrying fragments in his body.’ 

Erika was born in October 2022 and Myroslava will turn three in January.  

The oldest sister understands the concept of a child having a mum and dad, asking about Artem each day and sending him ‘goodnight’ wishes.

Explaining the harsh reality to such an innocent young child has been one of Hanna’s biggest challenges.

Internally displaced people evacuated from Mariupol arrive at a registration and processing area in Zaporizhzhia in May 2022 (Picture: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP)

Volodymyr Zelenskyy at an event for the return of Ukrainian commanders who held Mariupol’s resistance (Picture: Ukrainian Presidential Press/AFP via Getty)

She is part of a campaign to keep the prisoners in the world’s eye as the Middle East and other parts of the battlefield in Ukraine dominate headlines.

Under the banner of the Azovstal Families, the loved ones have banded together to do what they can for the prisoners and each other. 

The group says that for the past 19 months Russia has been hiding the condition and location of those taken captive, with those being freed recounting barbaric acts of torture and murder.  

They include Aiden Aslin, a British national who was fighting with Kyiv’s marines before surrendering at the Illich steelworks, just north of the Azovstal plant, and initially being sentenced to death.  

Originally from Nottingham, he has described being tortured and being turned into a ‘propaganda zombie’ contrary to the Geneva Convention before his release in a prisoner exchange.  

The last major prisoner swap took place six months ago according to the families — marking the longest period without a deal.

*Artem is a pseudonym

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A one-year-old girl has never met her dad who was taken prisoner after the siege of Mariupol.