Every day, Kristina Pokidcenko waits for a call from her husband Vitalii confirming he is still alive.

The couple haven’t seen each other since she and her son Mark, 15, fled Ukraine after Russia launched a full-scale invasion more than three years ago and missiles struck near her hometown near Dnipro.

She and her teenage son managed to find refuge 4,700 miles away in Alaska under a Biden-era programme offering Ukrainians a safe haven in the US.

But Mrs Pokidcenko fears she could lose her husband any day, as she has lost friends and relatives fighting on the front lines to protect their country.

“It is my biggest pain, and this is what my tears are all about, it’s my biggest heartache,” Mrs Podicenko told The Telegraph.

“All I want to have is my husband back and to be with him and be together, every birthday my son wishes for his dad to be with us, and unfortunately I cannot fulfil his birthday wish.”