Ukraine War Diaries: WK 8 - Lost boys, birthdays & Eurovision banter (May 9-13)

In Lviv, Ilyas is reunited with his wife and sons for the first time since they fled to Poland.In Kyiv Oksana reflects on how war has wiped birthdays from her social calendar. And in Eastern Ukraine, Seva makes a resupply of medical aid to soldiers waiting to be sent to the frontline. Here, he finds a band of brothers in buoyant mood, despite the possibility some may never return.Ukraine War Diaries uses first-person audio, recorded on the ground in Ukraine, to give an intimate day-to-day perspective of life in a war zone.BACKGROUNDIlyas is an IT specialist and married father who fled from Kyiv to Lviv shortly after the war started. His wife and two young sons are now in Poland.As of May 2022, Ilyas has returned alone to Kyiv He’s living in the family apartment and working, in part, for the Ukrainian government on specialist projects.Oksana, 34, works in overseas education and is married. She lives with her husband, Seva, in an apartment complex in Kyiv and has remained in the Ukrainian capital since the war started. Oksana has adopted an abandoned budgie since the war started but many of her closest friends have left the country to begin new lives in Europe. Some may never returned. She is determined to stay.Seva, 40, is a company CEO and husband to Oksana. In another life Seva travelled across Europe for business. Now, he makes regular resupply drops of medical aid and rations to Ukrainian troops on the frontline in Eastern Ukraine. He’s originally from a small village near Dnipro. Week 8 diary entries were recorded using WhatsApp voice notes and first published on the Ukraine War Diaries podcast feed. To follow this series when it broadcasts, on weekdays, subscribe to Ukraine War Diaries wherever you get your podcasts.From the producers of Sky News’ multi-award winning series – StoryCast.Series Producer - Rob MulhernProduction support - Paul Stanworth