Maryna and Andrii Pleshcheiev serve in the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade. They met after Russia's full-scale invasion began, later joined the same brigade, and served in combat positions. Now they're expecting a baby. Maryna is preparing for maternity leave, while Andrii remains on duty.
To mark Ukraine's Defenders Day, we are sharing their story. It is also part of a fundraising campaign to raise 1 million hryvnias for FPV equipment and backup power systems for the Kholodnyi Yar brigade, specifically its Black Raven unmanned systems battalion.
Maryna and Andrii Pleshcheiev. Photo credit: horangphoto
From finance to electronic warfare
Maryna is 29. With a degree in finance, she worked at a bank for 3 years and later was a financial specialist at a foreign company. She kept that job after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, but quit in late 2022.
In 2023, Maryna first tried to sign a contract with the military. The attempt was unsuccessful: during her medical exam, doctors found a medical issue that she needed treatment for. Maryna's doctor advised her to address it while she was still a civilian, so she had to put her dream of military service on hold.
That was when Andrii came into her life. They met on October 1, 2023, in Kharkiv, a frontline city in northeastern Ukraine, at the Kraken Run charity race. Maryna ran 10 kilometers and finished second. Andrii entered the race to honor the memory of his fallen friend, a professional runner, and dedicated his medal to him.
Andrii saw Maryna during the awards ceremony. Later, he found her on social media and messaged her. They started talking about the race, but quickly moved on to subjects they both cared about: volunteering, veterans, and the military. Even before they met, they had happened to support the same soldiers and visit the same 93rd brigade.
Their relationship moved fast. They met on October 1. By November, Andrii had proposed. Six months later, he joined the 93rd brigade, and Maryna began visiting him in the eastern frontline towns of Kostiantynivka and Druzhkivka. She joined the brigade soon after.
At first, the military put Maryna's civilian skills to use. She handled reports and purchases. In 2024, the brigade set up the official Black Raven Charity Fund to manage requests and reports in a single place. Maryna worked on reports and some purchases.
Through procurement, she started working more closely with electronic warfare soldiers. She bought components for their systems, grew interested in the field, and eventually transferred to an electronic warfare company as an operator.
Maryna spent about a year working at a frontline position. She intercepted video feeds and signals from Russian drones, tracked their locations, and passed the information to fellow soldiers who jammed their control signals.
Maryna Pleshcheieva. Photo credit: horangphoto
One company, different positions
For a while, Maryna and Andrii served in the same company and did similar work, but never at the same combat position. Even when they served nearby, they rarely saw each other. One would return just as the other was heading out to the grey zone.
The couple asked their commanders to coordinate their rotations whenever possible. That way, they could each spend a week or two on their combat missions at the same time, then have a few days together after returning.
It came at a cost for Andrii. Maryna says he was assigned one of the hardest and most dangerous positions, where he could not rotate out as often as the others.
They had no special plans for those few days together. The couple lived in a basement in the frontline Kramatorsk. After coming back from their positions, they lay around, watched movies, or went for a walk. They both love Ukraine and the outdoors, and they like making videos. Maryna runs a blog, and Andrii supports her in it.
In a frontline city, you can't leave military life "at the door." The hardest moments for Maryna came when Andrii left for a position. She worried until he called to say he had arrived. The road was dangerous, too.
Serving together, however, had another side. They did not have to explain why a particular day had been hard or what was happening around them. They lived in the same reality and, as Maryna put it, "spoke the same language."
Maryna and Andrii Pleshcheiev. Photo credit: horangphoto
"There won't be better times, but we can create them"
Maryna connects their decision not to put their lives on hold with what they have experienced during the war. Her relationship with Andrii moved quickly from the start, but they did not rush to have a child. They were both serving, had no permanent home, and their safety and living conditions depended on circumstances they could not predict far ahead.
Her father's death also shaped how Maryna viewed parenthood. He had also served in the 93rd brigade. He wanted grandchildren but never got to meet them.
At some point, the couple's thinking changed. Instead of waiting for better circumstances, they decided to build a life with what they had now.
"There won't be better times, but we can create them," Maryna says.
She does not deny that their life is far from what most people would consider stable. They have no permanent home and move around a lot. They have also sacrificed years they could have spent building civilian careers or pursuing personal goals to military service.
But Maryna focuses on what they can give their child: love, warmth, a happy family, and the ability to handle whatever life brings. Even though they move around a lot, they've learned how to make any place feel like home.
Maryna found out she was pregnant in a place where, until very recently, much of her life had taken place: a combat position.
Before that, she and Andrii had taken a vacation in Italy. They had tried to conceive before but had not been successful. Maryna says doctors told them that constant stress was one possible reason. Under those conditions, the body is more focused on survival than reproduction.
After their vacation, the couple returned to their positions almost immediately. Maryna took two pregnancy tests with her because she already suspected she was pregnant. The first one came back positive right away.
Maryna stayed at the position for about another week. Then she told her commander she was pregnant, and they pulled her from combat duty.
Later, one of the positions Maryna had left shortly before was struck. She thought about how she could have been there when it happened.
Pregnancy also changed how Maryna saw danger. She now focuses more on protecting the baby, avoids getting pulled into bad news, and tries to stay calm. She says reports of shelling and air strikes that kill children and civilians are especially hard to take.
Maryna and Andrii Pleshcheiev. Photo credit: horangphoto
New chapter for two
For the past six months or so, Maryna has not worked on the front line. She returned to procurement, fundraising, and reporting at her company and is gradually preparing to take maternity leave.
Andrii, meanwhile, continues to serve. He later transferred to the Black Raven unmanned systems battalion of the 93rd brigade, while Maryna stayed with the electronic warfare company.
Maryna says the pregnancy has been easy so far, but stepping away from the military has been hard. She misses military life. Sometimes she looks at her friends still serving and wishes she were with them.
At the same time, her body, thoughts, and daily life are gradually shifting toward a different mission: becoming a mother.
The couple now lives in two somewhat different realities. Maryna spends more and more time thinking about the baby, childbirth, and how they will organize their life afterward. Much of Andrii's daily experience is still tied to the war.
Still, Maryna doesn't feel any distance growing between them. They talk often, share the same reality, and still work as a team.
"I choose you, and you choose me," Maryna says, describing their relationship.
With a baby on the way, planning has been essential. Next month, Maryna plans to move to Chernivtsi, a city in southwestern Ukraine, to be closer to hospitals and the maternity ward for a calmer environment during her pregnancy. In the meantime, Andrii will stay in the military and visit when he gets leave.
Family will be nearby. Maryna's mother works but plans to come and help. Her 15-year-old younger brother also offered to stay with his sister after the baby is born and take on some of the household chores.
The couple does not yet know exactly what life will look like after the baby arrives. But they are used to having to change their plans.
"We're a great team. We can adapt to absolutely anything," Maryna says.
Maryna and Andrii Pleshcheiev. Photo credit: horangphoto
Brigade is family
The 93rd brigade means more to Maryna and Andrii than just their service. Maryna's father also served there. She learned he had died on her first day of service.
At the time, her commanders allowed her to work with a lighter workload. They set up a folding cot for her at headquarters so she could handle reports and rest when needed.
Later, the command also worked with Maryna and Andrii when they asked to coordinate their deployment schedules so they could see each other between rotations.
For Maryna, that is what her connection to the 93rd is built on. Her father served there. Andrii joined the brigade. And she herself went from handling reports and procurement to working as an electronic warfare operator at a combat position.
Over time, the people in the brigade became family to her, and she now calls the 93rd her own.
For Ukraine's Defenders Day, Maryna and Andrii became the faces of a fundraising campaign by the rapid-response charity SHIELDS Ukraine and Ukrainian cosmetics brand MALEVICH to support the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade and its Black Raven unmanned systems battalion.
The goal is to raise 1 million hryvnias (about 22,000 euros) for FPV equipment and backup power systems for the brigade. Donate here or open your own fundraising jar through the chatbot.
Anyone who raises at least 10,000 hryvnias in their jar will receive a one-month set of MALEVICH skincare products, individually selected by a brand specialist.
"I'm a defender, and this is definitely my day"
Maryna remembers the first October 1, Ukraine's Defenders Day, she spent as a service member, with the feeling that she did not fully have the right to call it her own.
At the time, she mostly worked at headquarters and, in her own words, felt like an "impostor." She thought the day belonged first and foremost to infantry soldiers and those directly fighting at combat positions.
Over time, that view changed. During her service, Maryna saw how many different people keep the military running. The army needs more than those who carry out combat missions. It also needs cooks, clerks, communications staff, media workers, designers, and people working in many other fields.
This year, Maryna will probably spend October 1 somewhere other than the eastern front line, unlike in previous years. She may not even be wearing a military uniform.
But that does not change the choice she made.
"I'm a defender, and this is definitely my day," Maryna says.
