Facing a demographic catastrophe, Ukraine is paying for troops to freeze their sperm
"Our men are dying. The Ukrainian gene pool is dying. This is about the survival of our nation," the soldier tells me, speaking by phone from a position somewhere near the eastern frontline.
The 35-year-old is serving with Ukraine's National Guard and when he returned on leave recently his wife persuaded him to visit a clinic in Kyiv and leave a sperm sample.
It was frozen free of charge as part of a programme to help serving soldiers.
If Maxim were killed, his wife could use the sample to try to have the child they've always wanted.
But he says his frozen sperm could be crucial to creating a family, in any case.
"Whether you are right on the 'zero point' of the frontline, or 30 or even 80 kilometres back, there is no guarantee that you're safe," the soldier says, explaining that Russian drones overhead are a constant threat.
"That means stress, and this [can have] an impact: your reproductive ability declines. So we have to think about the future and the future of our Ukrainian nation."
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxd9549y4xo
Stop the war!!!!