Extract from ABC News
In the cold winter wind, dozens of Ukrainian flags fly high, marking fresh military graves in a Kharkiv cemetery.
One year ago, no-one expected so many young men and women would be buried here after fighting and falling for their country.
From the first hours of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its second-largest city — just 40 kilometres from the Russian border — came under heavy fire.
Three women in Kharkiv woke up to the same heart-wrenching news on the morning of February 24, 2022, and all would make the same life-changing decision to stay and defend their country.
But 12 months on, only two of these women would still be alive. The other would be buried and remembered for her bravery.
Ajuna Morozova, Alina Voronchikhina and Vlada Chernykh did not know each other when Russian troops and tanks began heading for their city.
But in the months that followed, they would end up working alongside one another in some of the toughest circumstances imaginable.
All three women joined the Khartia Battalion, a volunteer unit that fights with Ukraine's army, started and partially funded by Kharkiv local Vsvelod Kozhemiako, one of Ukraine's wealthiest men.
Khartia roughly translates to the "charter unit", but some have dubbed it "the billionaire's battalion" — a nod to Kozhemiako's fortune in Ukrainian currency, which equates to about $US100 million.
More than 150 ordinary civilians left behind their old lives as students, doctors, athletes and managers, to take up arms with the group and help repel Russian forces from their region.
And like all of those Ukrainians, Ajuna, Alina and Vlada have sacrificed a great deal to serve their country.
The lone survivor in a deadly attack
Before the 2022 invasion, Ajuna was the head of the district's competitive swim team, but from the moment Russian troops rolled in, she wanted to support her country.
Immediately the 35-year-old started helping military officials in their headquarters, supporting soldiers as they returned from the nearby front lines.
On the morning of March 1, 2022, Ajuna was working in one of Kharkiv's local government administration buildings, having already sent her 15-year-old son abroad to safety.
She arrived a little earlier than was required because she knew there had been a night of heavy fighting and she wanted to organise supplies and meals for the men who had been there.
Her mother was not happy that she was putting herself in harm's way by going to military headquarters each day, but she was determined to help.
Not long after she arrived she saw a disorientating flash of bright light, and heard a thunderous bang before the blackness descended.
She was caught under mounds of brick and rubble. A cruise missile had hit the building.
It was a deadly attack that is thought to have claimed more than 30 lives, with several floors of the historic stone building collapsing inwards.
Rescuers that day described the horrifying sounds of screaming people who were being crushed to death under the weight of the rubble.
Ajuna was trapped, calling for help, while not far away her husband worked with rescuers to pull survivors from the wreckage, shouting her name.
She would be extraordinarily lucky, the only known survivor, found and rescued by her own husband with no more than scratches and bruises on her body.
The man she had been working alongside in the building had died, both his legs were severed in the blast.
"The young man next to me was screaming so loudly and I will never forget that — to the end of my life," she says.
"When I was pulled out I was surprised because the air outside was grey and filled with dust.
"We went to the ambulance and they said, 'You are so lucky, this is your second birthday.'
"The whole time running through my head is, 'Oh my goodness, what will I tell my mother?'"
Ajuna recovered quickly from the strike, but it affected her deeply.
Hoping to turn her pain into power, she helped Vsvelod Kozhemiako establish the Khartia military unit.
Now she organises everything for the battalion — logistics, finances, administration and resourcing.
Working from the top-secret base, every day she faces the threat of missiles.
"My mum she said, 'Oh you are crazy, you must stay at home,' but I think it's my duty for my country," she says.
A young medic determined to join the fight
Vlada had been studying medicine in Kharkiv before the war started, living with her family not far from the front line.
As the war unfolded on her doorstep, she was motivated to join the fight.
She reached out to her former university lecturer, who she knew was involved with Khartia.
After training in medicine at the local university, Vlada thought she could assist the military effort as a combat medic on the front line.
At first, some in the Khartia unit were not sure the 28-year-old had the right experience to join, but she was passionate and quickly persuaded others that she was ready to fight for her country.
From the moment she was involved with the unit, she wanted to do more, moving from her role as medic to a group commander in the unit's aero-reconnaissance team within months.
The Khartia volunteer unit worked alongside Ukraine's professional army to repel Russian forces from around the city.
By May, Moscow's forces had been pushed back from the city to near the Russian border, and over the next few months Kyiv's army and the territorial defence forces liberated all territory in the region.
Finding new purpose with dreams shattered by war
Alina, 32, worked as a nursing manager and during the first months of the conflict was struck with uncertainty and fear for her loved ones.
Her parents lived in a village a couple of hours from Kharkiv that quickly came under Russian occupation. For weeks she did not know whether they were dead or alive.
Eventually, she got news that their village near Kupiansk had been reclaimed by Ukraine in late September. They were safe.
But the life she had once envisioned for herself now seemed impossible.
Her dreams of settling down and starting a family were shattered after she separated from her partner, partly due to their differing views on the war, and her career no longer existed.
She was compelled by atrocities of the invasion to join Khartia, starting work among the unit's medics.
After the retreat of Russian forces from Kharkiv, the unit had a new calling to help fight on battle lines in the Donbas region.
The Khartia unit pays the ultimate price in Bakhmut
Khartia's leader, Vsvelold Kozhemiako, is among the hundreds of soldiers now working around the frontline city of Bakhmut, where Ukraine and Russia have been engaged in a months-long grinding battle.
The campaign has been fierce, with Moscow engaging the Wagner mercenary unit to fight — a group made up of private militia, many of whom are convicts persuaded to join the war in exchange for pardons.
In December, Vlada was also deployed to Bakhmut, working as a group leader.
On the first day on the ground, she and her comrades took up a position to begin using drones for air reconnaissance work.
After months of piecemeal progress along stagnant battle lines, Moscow had become desperate for a win in the city, and warfare had become even more tense and bloody, with air and ground offensives ramping up.
Within hours of arriving at their first location, Vlada was killed in a powerful blast.
She is one of only three volunteers the Khartia Battalion has lost.
Their framed portraits are now hung proudly on the walls at the group's headquarters, as a reminder of their service, passion and bravery.
Vlada's mother says the family is too overcome by grief to discuss their loss.
Andrii Telezhnyi, the teacher who recruited Vlada to the unit, describes his former student as a valiant and bold soldier who saved lives in her role.
"I was kind of destroyed that day [she died,] but there was a work that had to be done," he says.
"I had to go in there to bring her [body] back. My friends, my combat medics here helped me.
"She was brilliant … in one of the operations, our volunteer was critically wounded due to a helicopter attack, and she was there to save him.
"When we lose such people, very strong people, maybe some of their strength stays with us.
"We have to proceed with this, and go on with this strength, not only for us, but for her too."
These women won't give up the fight for their country
Ajuna and Alina still work alongside each other at the Kharkiv base, helping teams prepare for battle in the Donbas.
Russia is believed to have mobilised at least 300,000 troops, with many more expected to soon bolster battle lines in the Donbas region, around Bakhmut in particular.
As the battle grows more intense, Alina is committed to training to become a frontline combat medic.
"I'm not afraid of anything, I'm ready to move on and I must do everything in my power [for my country]," she says.
"I did not leave and will not leave. I love my city, I love my country, and I don't even think about leaving.
"Not one of my acquaintances expected that I would become a military woman … but this experience woke me up.
"I just want our people to fall asleep and wake up peacefully and for our children to know peace — that's all that is important."
The intense fighting may be over in the Kharkiv region for now, but still Khartia has new recruits lining up.
Serhii Hrytseniuk, a 20-year-old who recently joined the battalion, is quick to highlight, "there are many fighting who are younger, 18, 19 years old".
The young man was born in the Luhansk region, but when Russian separatists took over the territory almost nine years ago, he and his family were forced to relocate to Kharkiv.
"The line of fighting separated my grandmothers' houses — one was on the Ukrainian side and one was now on the side of occupied territory," he says.
"This war started for us in 2014 … if this is not my war to fight, then whose war is it?
"My only goal right now is for victory. I want to protect my country and see my country free, that's why I'm here."
Ajuna watches over all the new recruits, but after her near-death experience with the missile strike, she does not want to put herself on the front line.
She supports and watches over the young men and women undertaking medical training before their first deployment. Many are just a few years older than her own son.
Despite all that she's endured during this war, Ajuna can say without a moment's hesitation what her most difficult moment of the last 12 months has been.
"The day I sent my son away on his own was the hardest," she says.
"I could not breathe until I heard he had crossed the border.
"I do not want him here, I want him to be in a country where he learns good values, and is safe, so he can come back one day.
"All I want is victory … I want my family to be together again."
The Khartia Unit may be made up of men and women from all walks of life, but the pursuit of victory binds them together.
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