My daughter is sleeping, and I whisper to him: come back

The story of Inna Boretska from Zhmerynka is about a love that keeps the war at heart’s length. This was reported by Upmp.news, citing the blog of the author, volunteer, journalist, blogger, and public activist Liudmyla Pedochenko.

When the war began, she gave birth to a daughter.
And two years later, just when it seemed the world had somewhat gotten used to the pain, there was a knock on the door again – not an air raid this time, but a draft notice. On June 10, 2024, her husband went to defend Ukraine. She stayed behind – to wait. And every morning, as she prepares porridge for her daughter, she quietly tells herself: “The main thing is to believe that he’s holding on. And that he’ll return.”

Inna lives in a small town – Zhmerynka, Vinnytsia region. Here, everyone knows each other, and when a man goes to war, it becomes a shared story of the whole street.
She remembers that day – the notice arrived in the evening. As she held the paper in her hands, the world seemed to stop: the clock showed 19:40, the kettle was boiling, and her daughter was reaching out – “Mommy, take me.” And then she understood – she had to hold on. Because if she broke, her small world would fall apart too.

“We learned to live without him. In every little thing,” she says. “Instead of two cups of coffee – one. Instead of an evening movie – a message saying ‘I’m alive.’ That’s enough to exhale.”
Inna says that life changed after the war began – not just in daily routines, but in the very act of breathing. Her daughter became her anchor, her reason to get up in the morning, cook borscht, and believe that all this is not in vain.

She doesn’t volunteer officially, doesn’t run support pages, but every day is her small front. She holds the home front, where it smells of laundry detergent and baby shampoo, where instead of “I love you,” it’s “take care.”

“I try to believe he’s alive. There, where it’s cold and earthy, he’s standing. And as long as he’s alive – my faith lives too.”
This is her daily prayer. Not to God, but to her heart.
In the evening, when her daughter falls asleep, Inna opens her phone – rereads old messages, funny voice notes, brief “good night, my love.”
She says the most precious photo to her is the one where they’re all together. “The last one with all of us. Without a bulletproof vest. Without goodbyes.”

She doesn’t allow herself to cry in front of her child. But at night, when the house is quiet, she lets a few tears fall. Not as weakness – but as a memory of the one she’s waiting for.

For Inna, victory means peace.
Not a parade, not fireworks. Just peace, where one can sleep without fear, hear the steps of her husband at the door, not flinch at the sound of the news.
“A free, independent, strong, and thriving Ukraine” – she says these words plainly, like a prayer, not a political slogan. Because for her, Ukraine is the place where her daughter will say “daddy” not to a photo, but in an embrace.

Inna Boretska doesn’t call herself a heroine. She says – “I’m just a woman who’s waiting.”
But it is on women like her that the country stands. They are not seen on the front line, but each of them is the home front, the faith, and the very heart that keeps beating at home while someone holds the sky.

Inna knows that day will come.
He’ll walk through the door, she’ll say, “You’re home.”
And then, perhaps for the first time in many years, she’ll allow herself to simply – cry.

This story is part of the documentary project “The Heart at Home. Faces of the War,” created by the Ukrainian-Polish Media Platform (UPMP.News).
The initiative aims to preserve the faces and voices of Ukrainian women who wait, search, support, or have lost their defenders.

We believe that these stories are not only about pain but also about the light that does not fade even in the darkness of war.
Every voice is a memory. Every photograph is proof of love.
Every woman is Ukraine.

📸 The project is implemented to document and publish personal home front stories – as evidence of the resilience of hearts that keep beating at home.

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