Karina is six months pregnant, but the foetus inside her womb is not her own. The 22-year-old from eastern Ukraine is a surrogate, pregnant with an embryo from a Chinese couple's egg and sperm. At the age of 17 Karina's home was destroyed when her city, Bakhmut, became one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds in the early phase of Russia's full-scale invasion. With most of the city turned to rubble and ash, she and her partner moved to Kyiv but they struggled to find steady work. It was when Karina was in a shop one day, with barely enough money to pay for bread and nappies for their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, that she decided to turn to paid surrogacy. She says the war "led me to surrogacy" and that without the conflict she would never have considered it. The fighting has led to millions of people losing jobs and businesses, surging inflation and a sharp drop in Ukraine's GDP. "At first, becoming a surrogate made me angry and disappointed, but now I've just accepted it," says Karina Tarasenko who now lives on the outskirts of Kyiv in an apartment provided by her surrogacy clinic. She is pregnant with a girl. She will earn £12,500 ($17,000), roughly double the averag
May 7, 2026 → May 25, 2026
Russia carried out a deadly large-scale wave of strikes against Ukraine, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles on Saturday night. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was the main target, but other areas were also…
Read original at BBC →6 updates from 2 sources over 3 weeks.
Russia carried out a deadly large-scale wave of strikes against Ukraine, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles on Saturday night. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was the main target, but…
Read original at BBC →Russia used a new hypersonic ballistic missile in one of its biggest bombardments of the Kyiv region since the war began, an attack that left at least four people dead. The United States classifies the Oreshnik, which…
Read original at CNN →This week, with air raid warnings wailing in the distance, Kyiv held a funeral for two sisters. 12-year-old Liubava and her 17-year-old sister Vira were among 24 civilians killed by a Russian missile which reduced their…
Read original at BBC →At least three people were killed near Moscow after Ukraine targeted Russia with more than 500 drones overnight, Russian state news agency TASS reported Sunday, citing local and military officials. The attack on Moscow…
Read original at CNN →A huge wave of Russian strikes overnight targeted Ukraineâs capital, Kyiv, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens of others, according to Ukrainian authorities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said…
Read original at CNN →Karina is six months pregnant, but the foetus inside her womb is not her own. The 22-year-old from eastern Ukraine is a surrogate, pregnant with an embryo from a Chinese couple's egg and sperm. At the age of 17 Karina's…
Read original at BBC →What this story stands on. Tier 0 is a primary record or the subject's own words; higher tiers must be attributed, never stated as bare fact.
Russia carried out a deadly large-scale wave of strikes against Ukraine, firing hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles on Saturday night. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was the main target, but other areas were also…
View source →Russia used a new hypersonic ballistic missile in one of its biggest bombardments of the Kyiv region since the war began, an attack that left at least four people dead. The United States classifies the Oreshnik, which can carry multiple…
View source →This week, with air raid warnings wailing in the distance, Kyiv held a funeral for two sisters. 12-year-old Liubava and her 17-year-old sister Vira were among 24 civilians killed by a Russian missile which reduced their residential block…
View source →At least three people were killed near Moscow after Ukraine targeted Russia with more than 500 drones overnight, Russian state news agency TASS reported Sunday, citing local and military officials. The attack on Moscow is âthe largest in…
View source →A huge wave of Russian strikes overnight targeted Ukraineâs capital, Kyiv, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens of others, according to Ukrainian authorities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired more than…
View source →Karina is six months pregnant, but the foetus inside her womb is not her own. The 22-year-old from eastern Ukraine is a surrogate, pregnant with an embryo from a Chinese couple's egg and sperm. At the age of 17 Karina's home was destroyed…
View source →Tier key: T0 = Primary source · T1 = Wire · T2 = Outlet report · T3 = Commentary
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