Women in the Ukrainian military

The war has seen a significant increase in the number of women serving in the Ukrainian military, with several positions that had been reserved for men only being opened up to women.[2][3][4] By 2016, 8.5 percent of the Ukrainian military were women and by March 2021, the percentage of women in the armed forces had risen to 22.8 percent, 15.5% of them described by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense as "female servicemen".[5][6] [7] [8]

The Ukrainian Center for Drone Intelligence, which builds drones for the Ukrainian army and provides training courses for drone warfare, was founded by Maria Berlinska, who had volunteered to serve on the front after graduating from university.[9][10]

A number of women soldiers have achieved high levels of public prominence during the war. Nadiya Savchenko, a fighter pilot who volunteered for the Aidar Battalion after her regular battalion was not deployed to the front, was named a Hero of Ukraine and elected to the Ukrainian Parliament after being captured by the Luhansk People's Republic.[11][12][13]

Women have also featured in military propaganda in the war.[14] In May 2014, Donetsk People's Republic Defence Minister Igor Girkin posted an online video calling for recruits, stating that "if men are not capable of this, we will have to call on women."[15] In March 2015, on International Women's Day, the DNR held a propaganda beauty pageant featuring all female soldiers.[16]

In their 2019 book Insurgent Women: Female Combatants in Civil Wars authors Darden, Henshaw and Szekely, while confirming the combat role of women in several Ukrainian and pro-Russian armed forces and militias as medics, drivers, sentries or on patrol, say that their participation in the first line of action, particularly as snipers, has been usually overstated by the media, or at least hard to verify. They distinguish female combatants by their motivation to become involved in the war. On the Ukrainian side, women were strongly moved by Ukrainian nationalism, while their pro-Russian counterpart fought for more personal reasons, like defending their families or homes. According to these authors, Ukrainian female soldiers actively chose "to go to the front. Those on the separatist side feel that the front came to them".[17]

A significant number of women have volunteered to fight for the Ukrainian forces in response to the invasion.[18][19][20][21] Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko of Georgia State University have stated that "Ukrainian women have historically enjoyed independence not common in other parts of the globe" and that "Ukraine offers a unique insight into the roles that women can play in defending the nation and as leaders in their own right."[22] In September 2022, Aljazeera stated: "There are about 50,000 women serving in the Ukrainian armed forces in combat and non-combat roles, of which about 10,000 are currently either on the front lines of the war or in jobs that could send them to the front lines, according to Ukrainian military officials. There were about 32,000 women in the military prior to the invasion."[23]

In October 2022, the first all-female prisoner of war exchange occurred between Russia and Ukraine, with 108 Ukrainian women being returned, including 37 who had fought in the Battle of Azovstal.[24]

The song "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra won Vidbir (the Ukrainian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022) on 12 February 2022 and later won the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. The song, dedicated to frontman Oleh Psiuk's mother, acquired new meanings and nuances after the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on 24 February 2022, according to Psiuk 'because a lot of people are perceiving it as if Ukraine is my mother'.[31] The music video released by the band featured women in Ukrainian military uniforms rescuing children from smoking ruins of bombed buildings by carrying them away, bringing children to refugee shelters, and bidding them farewell as the female soldiers board trains back to the front.[32]