Editor’s note: Almost two years into the war, Gazette Photo Editor Christian Murdock has traveled to Ukraine to capture the struggle of a generation. For the next couple of weeks, his images and stories aim to better connect us to the plight of a people not so far away.

STELMAHIVKA, Ukraine — Lyudmila Tkachenko was feeding her chickens on her modest farm near the Russia border on Feb 24, 2022. She and her partner, Anatoly Tolmachov, had spent their whole lives living in the small village.

Tkachenko, 72, had retired from a life of milking cows and Tolmachov, 82, from driving a farm truck during the years of Soviet Union rule. They had their pensions. They were living the good life.

'Our generation went to nothing': Denver Gazette photographer captures the struggle in Ukraine

Things changed. Russia invaded their village of 500 at the beginning of the war and occupied it until October of 2022.

“I was frightened when I realized what was going on,” Tkachenko said this week from their new home, a dorm room to the northwest at the university in Kharkiv.

Ukrainian forces evacuated their village after liberating them from the Russians. The village was unsafe — and continues to be unsafe — because of the constant shelling from Russian forces.

The house was the only home Tolmachov remembers. He had lived there his whole adult life. Raised a daughter, four grandchildren and too many great grandchildren to count, he said.

Now the couple sits in their dorm room waiting for the war to end.

Many refugees from the Luhansk region live in the college dorms throughout Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The students are home studying online.

The couple sits next to a window as the snow falls outside. Tkachenko knits floor mats, one she insisted I bring home, and Tolmachov shows me the refrigerator they purchased. They keep in touch with their old friends who are living in other dorms with their cellphone.

But it’s not the life they ever imagined.

“We lived in a close village where everyone knew everyone,” Tolmachov said. “We didn’t need much. We had a rich life with friends and family.”