Vitalii and Zoia Steblianko have been together for 36 years. After the full-scale war began, Zoia refused to leave her husband alone in Mariupol. She stayed by his side until the very last day at Azovstal and did not even take the opportunity to evacuate, because she could not imagine leaving without him.

On May 18, 2022, the couple left Azovstal together and were taken into russian captivity. They were separated almost immediately. Zoia saw her husband on a neighbouring bus and asked for permission just to knock on his window. She will remember his look forever: the pain and helplessness in the eyes of the man she loved, who could do nothing to help her.

They saw each other once more in Olenivka. Vitalii was standing behind the bars when Zoia was being taken to another city. She could not stop or speak to him: they could only look into each other’s eyes…

A few months later, Zoia was released from captivity, but Vitalii remained in captivity for almost another three years. He had no reliable information about his wife and held on only to the words of a fellow serviceman, who had heard that the female prisoners had been exchanged. When Vitalii returned to Ukraine on June 14, 2025, he was afraid that he would not hear Zoia’s voice…

Now the couple are learning to live after captivity and make up for the time that the war took away from them. During a family retreat in Lviv, their long-held shared dream came true: to visit the city they had planned to travel to even before the full-scale invasion. This is a story of a love that helped them endure years in captivity.