Ukrainian lawyer runs family farm as husband and son defend country

Zhanna Lishchynska is a lawyer in a local city council in Zaporizhzhia, south-eastern Ukraine, but now spends most of her time looking after the family farm while her husband and son defend the country.

The legal adviser of 14 years and mother-of-four tends to the pigs and chickens on the farm which is equipped with a bomb shelter.

“The war has changed so many things,” Lishchynska, 47, told Reuters.

“I have no choice: I need to look after the house… I need everybody to come back,” she said, fighting back tears and , adding that one of her children has been evacuated to a neighbouring country.

In addition to her work in the city council and growing duties on the farm, Lishchynska also collects food and medicine for the elderly and cares for her 75-year-old mother.

Speaking on the phone from an undisclosed location, her husband says that his army unit is well-supplied and being buoyed by support from locals.

“I think (the war) has united the country so much: they’ve all come together against this disaster, against grief,” Lishchynska’s husband tells her.

Standing under blossoming cherry trees, Lishchynska says she still has hope for the future.

Russia calls its actions a special military operation to demilitarise Ukraine and eradicate what it calls dangerous nationalists backed by an expansionist NATO military alliance.