Nadiya Yarmolyuk, a 104-year-old resident of Kukhari village in Volyn, has celebrated her birthday while sharing details about her life in a Suspilne report.
The publication noted that despite her age, Yarmolyuk has a good memory and shares stories with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She still does household chores, including feeding her chickens, ducks, and pigs.
Before World War II, Yarmolyuk met and married her husband Petro, who was seven years older than her. Petro returned from the front wounded, and they raised four sons. Her husband worked on a farm while Nadiya Hordiivna Yarmolyuk worked in the field to feed the family. Petro died nearly 60 years ago, and she has also buried two of her sons.
Daily Routine and Family
Yarmolyuk shared that every morning and evening she prays and thanks God, though she admitted her memory now fails her. She said she gets lost while reciting the Our Father prayer and has to go back to restart it.
Yarmolyuk lives with a granddaughter. She has eight grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and eight great-great-grandchildren.
Her 77-year-old son Oleksiy said he is glad his mother lived to 104 despite a difficult fate. He said she weakened slightly and became hard of hearing over the past year. Oleksiy noted that longevity runs in the family, as her father lived to 96 and her aunt lived to 102.
She previously enjoyed singing old Ukrainian songs with her son, but she admitted she has forgotten the words and is not in the mood for singing. Oleksiy shared that his mother often says how hard life is and feels God has forgotten her by not giving her death, causing both of them to cry.
Other Long-Lived Ukrainian Women
UNIAN previously reported on 103-year-old Pelaheya Kachka from the village of Mykhniv in the Khmelnytskyi region. Kachka stays modern and considers her mobile phone a vital connection to relatives and the wider world, though she noted digital tools cannot replace in-person visits. She dreams of the war ending so all her children can gather.
Kachka also shared that her morning is impossible without a cup of coffee. She developed her love for coffee decades ago while subjected to forced labor in Germany during World War II, where workers were given coffee despite terrible food rations.
