Striking photos show a Ukrainian bride and groom moments before they got married amid rubble

• Anastasia Grachova, 33, and Anton Sokolov, 38, got married in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday.
• The couple posed for photos amid the rubble and wreckage of their hometown.

Anastasia Grachova, 33, and Anton Sokolov, 38, got married in a bomb shelter in their hometown of Kharkiv, Ukraine on Sunday.

The couple, who previously worked as a nurse and a dentist respectively, have been running a makeshift pharmacy together since the war started, according to a blog post written by the couple's friend and wedding guest Maria Avdeeva.

According to Avdeeva, the bride and groom posed for wedding photos amid the ruins of their hometown before walking to an underground metro station, where the ceremony took place. The metro station is currently being used as a bomb shelter, according to Getty Images.

With around 1.4 million residents, Kharkiv is the country's second-largest city. It has been left in rubble and ruins ever since Russian forces first attacked on February 27.

The metro station is the "safest place in town," writes Avdeeva, who added that the ceremony was attended by people who resided at the station, as well as the mayor.

Grachova wore a white wedding dress, a veil with a flower crown, a leather jacket, and a pair of knee-high Dr. Martens boots which were a wedding present, according to Avdeeva's post. Sokolov wore black Levi's and black boots.

As most of the couple's relatives had left the city, the bridal party was made up of volunteers from the humanitarian center where they work, according to Avdeeva.

Avdeeva posted footage from the day on Twitter. The video shows the couple taking photos and dancing on the street before the ceremony, as well as footage from the ceremony.

—Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) April 3, 2022

"Wedding in a city under constant shelling be like this: a photo zone against the background of a destroyed historical building and a bombarded city center, a ceremony in the subway," Avdeeva wrote. "This is a strong message to the world — Kharkiv is resisting and living."

In another Twitter post written by Avdeeva, she said that the bride and groom have no plans to "go on a honeymoon anytime soon."

"One day, they want to go somewhere with a beach and palm trees," she wrote. "Before that happens, there is a war to win, and brutal days ahead. But yesterday, there was hope, and beauty, and love inside the ugliness."

Avdeeva did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.