Juggling feedings and changing diapers is a learning curve for all new parents of twins. But when London couple Amita Chakravorty and Sham Jagpal became mum and dad to Rey and Ryo in July this year, they also had to learn to survive missile and drone attacks, as the boys were born via surrogacy in Ukraine.

“It’s been a really crazy journey,” said Amita The paper i from the couple’s London home while the four-month-olds took a nap. “People need to realize how far people like us are willing to go to have a baby. »

The couple are among thousands of people around the world who choose the war zone as surrogacy destination. Despite the dangers and difficulties of accessing the country, Ukrainian agencies say business is booming.

The couples come from countries like Pakistan, China, Australia, Spain and Italy. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine was the third most popular country for British couples after the US and UK, according to fertility law firm NGO Law.

Since then, more than 1,000 babies have been born thanks to BioTexCom Surrogacy Agency alone, according to his legal advisor Denis Herman.

On the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, approximately 200 of this provider’s surrogates were pregnant. “Not even a month has passed and we have received calls to start or continue surrogacy processes,” he said.

Besides the war, the demand for surrogacy services has also resisted new laws that came into force in Italy. While surrogacy is already illegal in the country, a new law in December will ban couples from having a baby abroad. Herman believes this will not stop Italian couples from coming to Ukraine, although they could face up to two years and a fine of one million euros (£832,000).

Alexander Schuster, a lawyer specializing in medical reproductive rights in Italy, said The paper i it would “firmly prohibit anyone from traveling to Ukraine (from Italy) as it is almost certain that criminal proceedings will be initiated under the new law.” However, he believed couples could avoid punishment by entering into plea bargains if it was their first crime.

For Amita, who suffers from endometriosis and adenomyosis, surrogacy was a last resort.

After a decade of trying to start a family involving 15 IVF cycles in four different European countries and three miscarriages, the couple opted for surrogacy with the Agency of the Ukrainian World Baby Center (WCOB) in 2023.

“We looked at the UK, Colombia and Mexico – we did our research,” says Sham. Ukraine only accepts heterosexual married couples, or civil partnerships, who are medically incapable of carrying a pregnancy to term. At least one intended parent must be genetically related to the child – usually the father. If an egg donor is needed, it cannot be a Ukrainian surrogate mother.

Ukraine was preferable for the couple because Ukrainian law recognizes intended parents as legal guardians from conception. In the UK, the surrogate mother is the legal parent of the child at birth, meaning parental rights must be transferred by parental order or adoption.

Amita and Sham had already frozen their biological material (embryos, sperm and eggs) in a clinic in the Czech Republic. WCOB flew them to Ukraine, meaning the couple only had to make one trip to pick up their babies.

“We were clearly worried because the country was at war,” Sham said. “But the clinic said everything was working normally in Kyiv. It was perfectly possible for us to continue the process.

Costs in Ukraine are also significantly lower than in other countries. Helen Shumskyh, Sales Manager at Viréo Agency in Ukraine, said the cost of surrogacy in Ukraine is between £33,000 and £54,000 for a package including transport to the country, accommodation, surrogacy expenses and travel costs. agency.

In the United States, costs range from £103,000 to £276,000. In the UK, surrogacy is legal, but surrogates cannot be paid and surrogacy agreements are not enforceable by law.

“The price in Ukraine is now almost the same as before the war started,” Shumskyh said. “Usually in the surrogacy business, prices are evaluated every year, but no one has increased the prices here because we all understand that in our current situation we need to attract customers. After the war ends, we expect prices to change. »

The agency currently has 15 couples at different stages of their surrogacy journey. Shumskyh says demand is growing every month. The company has sought to reassure intended parents by transferring surrogate mothers to the western cities of Lviv and Ushgorod once they reach 28 weeks of pregnancy. These are far from the front line and suffer fewer attacks. Although surrogate mothers may live in higher risk eastern regions until then.

Ukrainian surrogate mothers are under the age of 35 and must have already given birth naturally to a healthy child. They receive between £11,700 and £14,200 per pregnancy. Nova Espero The agency’s deputy director, Sergei Gluchenko, said the surrogates were “normal, rich women” who wanted to help others and make money.

“In 90 percent of cases, the surrogate mother wants to improve her living conditions, for example, buy a new apartment,” Gluchenko said. Despite worsening economic conditions in Ukraine, he said the number of women applying to become surrogates had not increased.

Amita and Sham never met their surrogate mother. They missed the birth because the twins arrived unexpectedly, almost six weeks premature. With flights to Ukraine banned, the couple flew to Poland and then drove to kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

“We are entering the unknown,” says Amita. “We passed so many cemeteries on the way. It became clear that so many people died. »

Eventually, the couple met their twins, both in incubators. “There are no words to describe the feelings you get when you see your babies,” Amita recalls. But they were quickly brought back to reality when an air raid sounded and hospital staff moved the babies to a safe room. This was the first of a long series of such experiments.

The couple spent many sleepless nights sheltering in their AirBnB bathroom when the sirens sounded. On several occasions, they saw explosions in the sky as air defenses shot down enemy drones above them.

On August 26, they hid in an underground station as Russia attacked Ukraine with 200 missiles and drones, cutting off the power supply. “When we came out, everywhere you could smell chemicals or gunpowder,” Amita said. “In the apartment we had no electricity and we could not sterilize the bottles to feed the babies. »

The couple planned to spend six weeks in Kyiv while waiting for their passports to be issued. Ultimately, legal delays left the family stranded for more than two months. Despite this, the couple said they “wouldn’t change a thing.” But I recommend others to take a close look at Ukraine, as the paperwork took them longer than expected.

Since bringing their boys home, Amita and Sham have stayed in close contact with friends they made in Ukraine. “They were generous and kind,” Sham said. “It was a kind of warmth that you don’t see in the world anymore.”

Amita didn’t turn off the air raid alerts on her phone. She thinks that the British are not aware of the danger of war. “It’s real,” she said. “Don’t think that war won’t happen here.”