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In the years since her husband was captured by the Russians, Olha Kurtmallaieva has done whatever she could to speed his return. She has organized rallies to support prisoners of war, pleaded with government officials and read books to understand the psychological trauma that her husband is likely to experience.
Even though she is in remission from a rare cancer, she worries that time may be running out — for her, perhaps, and possibly for Ukraine.
Ms. Kurtmallaieva, 25, and the rest of Ukraine will pass a milestone Monday that few thought the country would reach: the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In the beginning, Russia’s leaders and even some American officials assumed that Russian troops would capture the capital, Kyiv, in a matter of days.
That didn’t happen. And now, Ukrainians like Ms. Kurtmallaieva, battered and exhausted yet holding on, face this anniversary knowing that the United States, once Ukraine’s fiercest ally, might be pivoting toward Russia.
In some ways, Ms. Kurtmallaieva’s story is the story of this war: an invader, a fight, a loss, a stalemate, a life in limbo. She needs more chemotherapy, her doctors say, to reinforce her remission. Her husband, now 31, is still in captivity.
“I can sit down now, start crying and say that this has been very hard and very painful,” Ms. Kurtmallaieva said in a recent interview. “But I understand that I did not have another choice and still don’t have one. I just have to keep going and live the life that I have, whether it is good or bad.”
