One can often hear incredible love stories at Zaporizhstal. It is true that such strong families, like steel, are started here. Here, for example, Yevhen and Oleksandra are a couple from Zaporizhstal, who found each other in the hot-rolling shop, where their story began.

Currently, the couple, like every Ukrainian, are also facing the challenges of a full-scale war. From the very first day of the invasion, the man joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And while Yevgen defends the state on the military front, Oleksandra helps the country survive on the economic front.

"I came to the plant while still studying, for an internship, and stayed in Zaporizhstal because I knew that there I could implement all my professional ambitions. I love my job very much; it was a conscious choice of both profession and place of work. And it was here that I met my love. We met right in the workshop, where I worked as a cold metal cutter, a foreman, and my wife was a crane operator,” recalls Yevgen.

Yevgen has been performing combat missions in Zaporizhzhia region for almost 2 years. He says that during this time he realized a lot and began to appreciate ordinary everyday things, like walking the dog or a regular work shift at his cherished plant.

"War turns the usual order of things and your world upside down. The greatest value for me is life, the usual opportunity to wake up in the morning. My wife is a person who does not let me give up, inspires hope, faith and strength. She is my support and strength,” says the defender.

Yevgen is a senior gunner-operator, directly at “zero” protecting Zaporizhzhia from the invaders. During his service, he was wounded and concussed many times. And even at the time of our conversation, he was also in the hospital under treatment. However, he does not lose his fighting spirit, because he knows for what he makes great sacrifices.

"When you lie in a trench under enemy fire with your brother and joke so as not to hear and not to focus on the situation you are in now, life becomes different. What worries me is that society, as it is now, is not ready to accept defenders. We are different, and we all have a long way of integration and rehabilitation ahead of us. However, first – Victory, the return of our lands and peace to Ukraine. We do everything for this," the metallurgist assures.

Like every concerned Ukrainian, most of all, Yevgen dreams of Victory and returning to peaceful life, going to work shifts at his cherished Zaporizhstal again.

"Today, it is very difficult to plan anything, but every normal person, of course, dreams of returning to peaceful life. And I want to return to Zaporizhstal - to stability, my favourite workshop, my work," Yevgen shared.