Maxim doesn't mind discussing his sperm. In fact, he wishes more in Ukraine's military would talk about their fertility – or at least think about it.
"Our men are dying. The Ukrainian gene pool is dying. This is about the survival of our nation," the soldier tells me, speaking by phone from a position somewhere near the eastern frontline.
The 35-year-old is serving with Ukraine's National Guard and when he returned on leave recently his wife persuaded him to visit a clinic in Kyiv and leave a sperm sample.
It was frozen free of charge as part of a programme to help serving soldiers.
If Maxim were killed, his wife could use the sample to try to have the child they've always wanted.
