Ukrainian women take up arms and join men in the war effort against Russia
When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began nearly a month ago, the country’s State Border Guard Service announced that all men ages 18 to 60 were banned from leaving Ukraine and must serve in the war effort. Heartbreaking images showed fathers saying goodbye to their families and sending their loved ones off to safety in neighboring countries — while they stayed to fight Russian forces from taking their home.
According to the U.N., more than 3.5 million people have made perilous journeys and fled Ukraine. Over 2 million have crossed the border into Poland. While the majority of that number is made up of women and children, there have been reports of women who have stayed behind to join their fellow Ukrainians.
More than 15% of Ukraine’s army is made up of women, a recent survey conducted by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed. And since the invasion began on Feb. 24, more women have taken up armed resistance against Kremlin-led forces. Women who are not official members of the Ukrainian army have been taking crash courses in battlefield medicine and how to use guns.
One woman defending Kyiv is 29-year-old Daria Vasylchenko, who has been responsible for maintaining security in a neighborhood north of the capital. Speaking to the Washington Post, Vasylchenko, who worked in public relations before the war, described how men waiting to enlist in the forces question why she is in the army. “They say something like, ‘Lady, why are you doing this, when we are here for that?’” she said. “I just smile and say that everyone has their own job and everything will be fine.”
Alona Bushynska, 32, a professional makeup artist, also joined the Territorial Defense Forces in Kyiv when the war began. She helps her country by preparing medicines and making hot food and drinks. However, she also has experience with guns, because her grandparents, who were competitive sport shooters, showed her how to use different types of weapons. She told the Post she does not want to use her gun, but that she is ready to “protect myself” if necessary.
In western Ukraine, Kate Matchyshyn told the British newspaper the Sun that she had never imagined she would join the country’s armed forces, but that she now understands how to use basic weapons, including how to assemble an AK-47. “It is a very hard thing for a woman to kill, and I never thought that I would ever have to do it,” she said. “But we have been forced to train for such a terrible thing by Russia. Russians are killing Ukrainian children, so Ukrainian women will do what they have to do to protect them.”
Bohdana Ostapyk, a 23-year-old businesswoman who worked in public relations, now helps coordinate weapon training sessions in Lviv. About 40 local residents attend the sessions every day, the Sun reports. “The war might end in a few weeks, or it might go on for years, and if that is the case, every single person needs to know how to use a weapon — including women,” Ostapyk said.
While the country remains under attack, female politicians have turned to defend Ukraine in other ways.
Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian member of Parliament who has taken up arms since the first day of the invasion, told CNN on International Women’s Day: “On the first day of war, we all gathered together … and decided … how we can be the most useful to our country. So I am most useful here where I can bear arms and I can motivate others to do the same.” She added: “I can make sure that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has much more people to fight than he originally thought that he would have, because along with Ukrainian men, there are women who are standing up, bearing arms and adding to those numbers — because we are enormously strong and we are enormously brave.”
Following suit is Tetiana Chornovol, a former deputy in Ukraine’s Parliament and now a lieutenant. As the threat of the Russian invasion escalated, Chornovol enlisted in the army and trained as an antitank-missile operator. Fighting from Kyiv, the mother of two told the New York Times she had sent her children to safety before “reporting for duty as a reserve officer.” Now she commands two teams making up a dozen soldiers.
It wasn’t until recently that women in Ukraine were given full equality in the armed forces. When Russia invaded the southern peninsula of Crimea in 2014, hundreds of women left their jobs as students, office workers and mothers and joined the army as “volunteers.” According to Defense One, of the 54,000 women who served in the armed forces in 2017, just 6,282 had “combatant status” — leaving the rest of those women without full benefits from the government that their male counterparts would receive.
This dramatically changed that year, after the military opened more training programs for women — recognizing those who had put their lives on the line for their country.
On Monday, the United Nations human rights office confirmed that 925 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. This includes 850 adults and 75 children. Most casualties were caused by explosive weapons, including shelling from artillery and missile and airstrikes.
