Pregnant on the front lines

Kravchenko playing with her children at home in Kyiv. — Oksana Parafeniuk/The New York Times

CROUCHING in a trench on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, Olena felt the ovulation app on her phone buzz.

“I realised that I really needed to be at home making a baby, not sitting in this trench,” recalled Olena, a combat medic. But that wasn’t an immediate option, and her desire to start a family was as strong as her need to serve.