Despite his death, Kyrkach-Antonenko found some new meaning, hope and purpose with the birth of their child. The Ukrainian parliament passed legislation in February to allow and fund the use of soldiers’ frozen sperm in case of their death. Once President Volodymyr Zelensky signs the bill into law, it will for the first time allow the widows of Ukrainian soldiers to use their dead partners’ reproductive cells – both sperm and eggs - to have children. It will also enable wounded soldiers to use their preserved reproductive cells to have children where their injuries would normally make that impossible. The possible injury to soldiers’ reproductive organs and trauma affecting the quality of sperm make cryopreservation of reproductive cells worthwhile, she told CNN, mentioning allegations of castration.

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Persons: Natalia Kyrkach, Vitalii, Vitalina, Antonenko, “, Volodymyr Zelensky, Antonenko Vitalii, Olena Shulyak, ”, It’s, Iryna, ” Feskova, Feskova, ‘, it’s, There’s, cryopreservation, Putin, Vitalina –, he’s Organizations: CNN, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russia, Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Center Locations: Russia, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Ukraine, Ukrainian