In the remote village of Sedanka in Russia's Far East, a transformation has taken place that mirrors changes sweeping through rural communities across the world's largest country. Nearly all of the village's fighting-age men have left to join the war in Ukraine, leaving behind an altered community of women, children, and elderly residents trying to maintain normal life while waiting for news that never seems to bring peace.

The Emptying of Rural Russia

Sedanka is not unique. Across Russia's vast rural expanses, villages that were already struggling with population decline have seen their working-age male populations decimated by military recruitment and mobilization. The trend is particularly pronounced in remote regions where economic opportunities are limited and military service offers relatively attractive pay compared to local alternatives.

For the women left behind in these Russian villages, life has become a permanent state of uncertainty. Daily routines continue—farming, caring for children, maintaining households—but under the shadow of absence. Mobile phones are constantly checked for messages that might bring news, good or terrible, from the front lines thousands of kilometers away.

Economic Calculations

The Russian government has offered substantial financial incentives for military service, including payments that far exceed average rural incomes. For men in impoverished regions with limited prospects, these offers present difficult choices between risking their lives and securing their families' financial futures.

Some Russian families actively support their men's decisions to enlist, seeing military service as a path to economic stability that would otherwise be unattainable. Others have watched helplessly as sons and husbands felt compelled by economic necessity to join a war they may not fully understand or support.

Community Transformation

The demographic shift is reshaping Russian rural society in ways that will have long-term consequences. With so many men absent, traditional gender roles have necessarily adapted. Women who previously focused on domestic responsibilities now manage farms and businesses. Children grow up without fathers present, their primary male contact coming from occasional video calls or rare visits home.

Local Russian officials in affected regions have begun implementing support programs for military families, but resources are stretched thin across vast territories with scattered populations. The psychological toll on communities where nearly every family has someone at war is only beginning to be understood.

The Waiting

In Sedanka and villages like it across Russia, time has taken on a different quality. Days are measured by routines that must be maintained despite absences. Nights bring worry and the weight of uncertainty. The war in Ukraine feels simultaneously distant and omnipresent, a reality that has fundamentally altered these communities' understanding of their place in Russian society and in the world.

Explore more global conflict coverage at genznewz.com/facts/russia-news, genznewz.com/facts/ukraine-conflict, and genznewz.com/facts/global-politics. Read more from BBC Europe.