Ukrainian soldiers reportedly are sending a message to Russia that the war might take their lives, but it will not take away their ability to procreate.
In defiance of Russia's invasion and war, Ukrainian solders are freezing their sperm so their families can expand even if they were to be killed on the battlefield, The New York Times reported Sunday.
"Vitality will be the father of all our future children," widow Nataliya Kyrkach-Antonenko told the Times of her late husband who was killed in the war.
Ukraine is now considering legislation that would pay for soldiers preserving their sperm.
"This is a continuation of our gene pool," Ukrainian Member of Parliament Oksana Dmytriieva, who wrote the bill, told the Times.
Some donation clinics in Ukraine are already offering the service for free, covering the cost for the country's male heroes.
"The modern world allows us to give birth and raise the children of our fallen loved ones — the bravest and most courageous humans in this world," Kyrkach-Antonenko wrote in a Facebook post. "Raise them worthy of their father, with the same love for Ukraine, and give them the chance to live in the country for which their father shed his blood."
IVMED fertility clinic in Kyiv is freezing 10 soldiers' sperm per week, according to spokeswoman Natalya Tolub.
"We are fighting for freedom for our children; we also have the right to have them," Yehor, 31, identified only by his first name for his safety, told the Times. "Doesn't matter if they will be born in that way, or even after us."
Yehor donated his sperm to his 25-year-old girlfriend of just a few months before heading to the battlefield.
"The first part is the preservation of reproductive cells," Ukrainian Association of Reproductive Medicine President Dr. Oleksandr Mykhailovych Yuzko told the Times.
"The second part is the restoration of the reproductive potential of Ukraine."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.