Their love story was only a month old when the Russian Army smashed its way into their home city of Mariupol, in eastern Ukraine, two years ago and tore them apart.
Sofia Malina fled with her mother and grandfather to a cottage on the outskirts of the city and eventually managed to escape to Germany.
Her soul mate, Polina Muzhychkova, hid with her parents in basements through weeks of bombardment and then fled with her mother to the Crimean Peninsula, a part of Ukraine annexed by Russia 10 years ago.
The two women — Ms. Malina was 19 at the time, Ms. Muzhychkova 17 — survived the terrifying violence of the Russian invasion, but ended up on opposite sides of the front line.