A precious moment in wartime: flowers for a wife and daughter returning home to Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — On his way to the Kiev train station to greet his wife and daughter Return from Poland to UkraineOleksander Tryfonov made a stop.

He bought two red roses from one of half a dozen flower shops along a dimly lit underpass – something beautiful for the two most precious people in his life.

“I haven’t seen them for two years,” Tryfonov, a stocky 45-year-old driver, said of his family. “Flowers are important for women.”

Flowers have always been associated with the culture of Ukraine, but since the invasion of Russia in 2022Their importance has only increased and flowers have become a symbol of both resistance and hope.

Despite Hardships that war brings – or perhaps because of this – Ukrainians take every opportunity to decorate Kyiv and other cities with flowers from the country’s vast rural heartland, striving to reconnect with and rediscover their roots.

Dark purple petunias and yellow rockroses sprout from planters lining Kiev’s back streets and boulevards. Some are attached to lampposts; flowers can even be found in The prison yards of Ukraine.

They are depicted on Ukrainian banknotes, textile patterns and murals – alongside billboards and army recruitment posters. Across the country, young men carry bouquets of flowers on dates and soldiers, sometimes missing a body part, carry them when they return home.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky brought a bouquet of flowers to a teenager who was injured while fleeing advancing Russian forces outside Kyiv during a hospital visit in 2022.

At a flower stand in the underpass under the Maidan in Kiev, seller Olha Semynog sells bouquets for $2.50 each. If you have more money, you can even get a giant bouquet for $75.

Even in wartime, March 8, International Women’s Day, is her busiest day, she says. Her business also did well because men drafted into the military sent flowers home with online orders.

On the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, where the The Russian advance was stopped two years agoresidents still tend the gardens of their damaged or completely destroyed houses. In a park in Kiev, near the left bank of the Dnieper, there is a large flower installation that F-16 fighter jets to arrive this summer from Ukraine’s Western allies.

Flowers, explains Iryna Bielobrova, chairwoman of the Ukrainian Florists’ Association, are inextricably linked to the culture, traditions and celebrated periods of life of Ukrainians. They are also an emotional connection with the country.

“Without flowers, life cannot be bright, full and rich,” she said. “Flower wreaths last for years and embroidered shirts are passed down to younger generations.”

Bielobrova fled after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and moved to the Netherlands, the flower-producing capital of the world. In comparison, Ukraine had a modest export market before the war.

Once in the Netherlands, she worked with other refugee florists to ensure that flowers were present at all solidarity events for Ukraine in European capitals.

Sunflowers, which have been cultivated in Ukraine since the 18th century, are the national flower of the country – a symbol of Ukraine’s defiance and resilience during the war.

Fields of the shoulder-high flowers are commonly seen throughout Ukraine, and Zelensky’s cabinet named the flower the symbol of the 2020 national memorial day.

“They offer an escape from the horror of the bombings, the destruction, the pain and the tears,” said Bielobrova, who returned to Ukraine from the Netherlands and lives in Kyiv.

“Flowers are an easy way to express feelings,” she said. “Each flower speaks for itself and together in a bouquet they tell a whole story.”

Flowers, Ukrainians say, represent not only tradition but also hope and healing.

Dobropark, a 150-hectare privately run garden and recreation area west of Kyiv, was rebuilt after a Russian attack and occupation lasting over a month in 2020.

“This entire area was occupied by the Russian military,” said the park’s landscape architect, Olha Lyhvar.

When Russian troops left, the park’s tractors and electric buggies also disappeared, she said. A three-story hotel that once stood on the site was razed to the ground.

Today, people come to the park to “get back in touch with nature,” she says, standing next to a doorframe – the only remaining part of the bombed-out hotel.

“People come here and can feel the power of life and see that it goes on despite everything,” Lyhvar said. “We have to keep living and find joy and beauty in what surrounds us.”

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Full coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine