Themes by tag: women

The BusDrive course is a free training program that empowers women to obtain Class D licenses for driving passenger buses. This initiative is part of the Reskilling Ukraine project.

Priority participants for the BusDrive course include women veterans, women from military families, IDPs, single mothers, and women over 50. Applicants must hold a Category B driver’s license and have at least three years of driving experience.

The course comprises theoretical and practical training, along with corresponding exams. Practical classes will commence next week in the Ternopil region.

The first class has already graduated, with eight women earning their Category D licenses. More than ten participants have joined the current course.

Journalists can, by prior arrangement, speak with participants and cover the practical classes in the Ternopil region. They can also interview the program organizers based in Sweden online.

For reference: Reskilling Ukraine is a project by the Swedish non-profit organization Beredskapslyftet, focusing on retraining and career support for women in Ukraine. Since its inception, over 100 women have been retrained as passenger bus or truck drivers.

• women
• Ternopil

Kateryna Lukiienko hails from the small village of Zalyman in the Kharkiv region, home to about 800 people before the full-scale invasion. When the all-out war erupted, Zalyman quickly fell under enemy control. Kateryna, along with her sister Lidiia and her children, was trapped in the village with no communication. Determined to document the atrocities, Kateryna began recording everything she witnessed. She took pictures, made videos, and kept detailed notes, compiling evidence of russian crimes in the region. During this time, she survived a russian shelling that left her with a traumatic brain injury. Her collected evidence, including testimonies, photos, and videos, has been submitted to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Following the village’s liberation, Kateryna and her family relocated to the Chernihiv region. She is currently awaiting state compensation for their destroyed home in Zaliman.

Kateryna Lukiienko remains in the Chernihiv region and is available for interviews, both online and in person.

• occupation
• russian crimes
• women
• Chernihiv

Anna and Oleh’s journey began in 2020 when they met while Oleh was serving in the Azov Brigade. Their connection blossomed from phone calls and letters into a committed relationship. Their daughter was born just before the outbreak of the full-scale war.

Oleh and his twin brother Vitalii both served in the Azov Brigade, defending Mariupol from the war’s outset. In April 2022, while attempting to reach the Azovstal steel plant, their unit was ambushed. Vitaliy was killed, and Oleh, though wounded, managed to reach Azovstal before being captured a month later.

On the night of July 28-29, 2022, Oleh and 192 fellow prisoners were detained in Volnovakha Penal Colony No. 120 in Olenivka. Several explosions that night killed over 50 Azov Brigade members and injured more than a hundred. When russian media released lists of the wounded and deceased, Anna was horrified to see her husband’s name on both. Later, she discovered that Oleh had survived. Since then, Anna has tirelessly worked to secure his release, joining the Olenivka Community NGO to aid her efforts.

Anna Lobova is currently in Zhytomyr and is available for interviews, both online and in person.

• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• women
• Zhytomyr

A charity initiative called “Wind Power” has been launched in Kyiv, aimed at empowering women who are veterans, internally displaced persons (IDPs), or wives and widows of military personnel. The project focuses on teaching participants how to sail, fostering a supportive community, and helping them find new purposes in life. Eventually, the program aims to qualify them as yacht captains.

Currently, 16 women are enrolled in the 2.5-month course. The curriculum includes 10 practical training sessions on a sailing yacht with a professional instructor, 5 theoretical sailing classes, and participation in sailing races to solidify their skills.

The “Wind Power” project is led by Viktoriia Pototska, a military spouse and experienced yacht captain with a decade of sailing under her belt. She also founded the Family Yacht Club sailing school.

Journalists seeking coverage of the project in Kyiv can do so by prior arrangement.

For reference: The initiative is part of the You Are Goal program by the Projector Foundation, supported by USAID’s Ukraine Confidence Building Initiative (UCBI), and takes place at the Obolon Yacht Club in Kyiv. 

Key partners include psychologist and yachtswoman Maryna Petrovych and financial literacy coach and yachtswoman Svitlana Telychenko.

• women
• Kyiv

Mariia Aleksieievych is 26 years old, for two of which she has been waiting for her husband Serhii Aleksieievych, a soldier from Azov Regiment. On May 16, 2022, he carried out the order and surrendered to the enemy.

Mariia and Serhii met before the full-scale invasion. Both studied in Khmelnytskyi, majoring in psychology. The couple lived for several years in a civil marriage, and officially married online in April 2022, when Serhii was already in surrounded Mariupol.

While Serhii was fighting in Mariupol, he tried to get in touch, asked his wife to hold on, work and study. The last time Mariia communicated with her husband was on May 13, 2022. The woman came across a video where she saw Serhii being captured, later she found confirmation that he was in Olenivka. After the explosion in the barracks of the Olenivka colony, the woman found her lover’s name on the list of the wounded.

Mariia says that Serhii Aleksieievych was officially recognized as a prisoner of war only on August 31, 2023. Every once in a while Mariia learns about her husband’s condition from former captives who return in prisoner exchanges.

Currently, Maria heads Olenivka Community NGO. She is also actively involved in public work to investigate the events in the Olenivka colony, bring the culprits to justice, and help Ukrainian prisoners of war and their families.

Mariia Aleksieievych is in Vinnytsia region and is ready to communicate with the media, both in person and online.

For reference: On the night of July 29, 2022, the russian federation committed a terrorist attack, setting off an explosion in the barracks of the penal colony in Olenivka, which housed Ukrainian prisoners of war. At least 50 defenders of Azovstal were killed in the blast.

• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• women
• Vinnytsia

Alina and Vadym Gaburych are soldiers of the Azov Regiment. They had defended Ukraine even before the full-scale invasion. After February 24, 2022, they defended Mariupol. Vadym was seriously injured in April 2022 and died in the bunker of the Azovstal plant. Alina, along with thousands of Mariupol defenders, was captured.

The couple’s son Yehor (now 8 years old) was raised by his grandparents. However, the boy looked at the pictures of his parents above his bed every day and believed that they would return. He even wrote a song for his mother.

In April 2023, Alina was released from captivity, and she and her son finally met. The woman still cannot bury her husband, because the russians did not hand over his body.

Journalists have the opportunity to talk with Alina in Cherkasy region.

For reference: the Children of Heroes Fund helps the family by providing material and humanitarian aid (medicines, food products, hygiene kits). Yehor also received a long-awaited tablet.

• casualties
• prisoners
• women
• Cherkasy

Oksana Myronenko was a surgeon in her hometown of Luhansk. In 2014, following russia’s initial attack on Ukraine and the occupation of the city, Oksana and her husband relocated to Bucha in the Kyiv region.

In February 2022, during the Russian assault on Kyiv, reluctant to face occupation again and swiftly moved with her children from Bucha to Kyiv. Tragically, Oksana’s parents also attempted to flee Bucha, but her mother died and her father was injured en route.

In spring 2022, Oksana and her sister established the Nash Sokil (Our Falcon) charity foundation, dedicated to aiding internally displaced persons with limited mobility. They named the foundation in honor of their late mother, whose last name was Sokolovska. Despite her new responsibilities, Oksana continues her medical practice, performing at least 30 surgeries a month in Ivano-Frankivsk and Kyiv. As a peripheral nerve injuries expert, she helped many soldiers avoid disability and alleviate pain. Oksana offers all surgeries for military personnel at no charge. 

Journalists can interview Oksana Myronenko in Ivano-Frankivsk or Kyiv.

• casualties
• dead
• doctors
• occupation
• women
• Ivano-Frankivsk
• Kyiv

Carla Pizzolante moved to Ukraine from Italy seven years ago. She lives in Kyiv with her Ukrainian husband and 5-year-old son. When Carla first heard the explosions of the full-scale invasion, she was at home in the capital. Despite her husband’s attempt to convince her to leave for Italy with her son, the woman firmly decided that she would stay in Ukraine.

The Big War led Carla to starting learning the Ukrainian language. Later, the woman started posting videos on social networks with attempts to communicate in Ukrainian. After her videos became popular, Carla decided to inspire others to learn Ukrainian. These days, the Italian woman sings Ukrainian songs, and also launches fundraisers to support the Defense Forces.

• women
• Kyiv

Anna Gin, a journalist and writer hailing from Kharkiv, has embarked on a remarkable endeavor—creating one-of-a-kind jewelry using local flowers and minute fragments of rockets and bombs.

This initiative, dubbed “Flowers from Unbreakable,” was born unexpectedly. While leading foreign journalists through Northern Saltivka—an area deeply scarred by russia’s full-scale invasion—Anna was captivated by the resilience of poppies amidst the devastation. Despite the looming danger of sirens and explosions, she couldn’t resist gathering these blooms, determined to preserve their beauty. Turning to online resources, Anna learned the art of working with epoxy resin, transforming her floral finds into exquisite pieces of jewelry.

In a bold move, Anna also began incorporating small shards of enemy missiles—gathered during walks with her dog amidst the wreckage of the Epicenter home improvement store demolished by occupants’ hands—into her creations, ensuring every piece carries a profound story of survival.

Through three charity auctions, Anna has already channeled proceeds to support a hospital in Kharkiv. 

For further insights, journalists can engage with Anna Gin in Kharkiv or online.

• culture
• volunteers
• women
• Kharkiv

Mariana Mamonova, a military medic serving in Ukraine’s Armed Forces, was taken captive while pregnant by enemy forces. Despite her ordeal, she has since established a charity foundation to aid women who have survived russian captivity.

Aged 32, Mariana, a captain in the Medical Service, had been deployed to Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO)/Joint Force Operation (JFO) zones since 2018. 

Initially stationed in Mariupol, she discovered her pregnancy amidst the full-scale invasion in mid-March 2022. Undeterred, she continued her life-saving work and was among those held at the Illich Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, under Ukrainian military control, before being captured by occupiers on April 4th. An expectant mother endured nearly six months of captivity in a Donetsk region colony, finally being released during a prisoner exchange on September 21, 2022. Just four days later, she welcomed her daughter into the world.

Mariana is now available for interviews in Lviv or online, offering insights into her remarkable journey.

• casualties
• military
• prisoners
• women
• Lviv