Liudmyla Moriak: "I gave birth to Serhii's daughter month after his death, and to his son... two years later"

Liudmyla Moriak says she gave birth to Serhii’s daughter a month after his death and later delivered his son two years later through artificial insemination. The couple had been together for only one year and two months; Serhii served in Ukraine’s 66th Brigade. He was killed while their first child, a daughter, was on the way. Liudmyla says Serhii changed his surname to Moriak five months before his death, and she and their children now use Moriak as their surname. The piece explains that Ukrainian law does not provide for children born after a parent’s death via assisted reproduction, requiring court proceedings and genetic testing to issue birth certificates with the deceased father’s surname and patronymic. It notes other cases are possible when stored biological material or frozen embryos exist.