Themes by tag: women

All her life, Viktoriia had been afraid of needles and she would even lose consciousness when her blood was being taken for a test. Despite this, on February 23, 2022, the woman donated blood for the military for the first time: she wanted to help the Ukrainian army in the east. Already after February 24, donation became a usual task for Viktoriia. The woman donates blood as often as doctors allow.

Viktoriia also began actively blogging about blood donation. She debunks myths and gives advice to those just starting out on this path. In particular, she talks about her experience, shares the best places to donate blood and describes the entire procedure in detail. Viktoriia says that she managed to persuade a considerable number of people to donate blood.

• volunteers
• women

Women from the IT industry, who have been actively helping Ukrainian defenders since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, make infantry shovels for the military. They realized that, although such shovels are needed by the majority of Ukrainian soldiers, it is extremely difficult to find an inexpensive shovel of good quality. Therefore, the girls united in a volunteer initiative called “Teeth Shovel.” They managed to establish the production of high-quality shovels, costing UAH 150 per piece. “Teeth shovel” has already handed over 18,000 shovels to Ukrainian fighters. Currently, the goal of the “toothy” girls is to provide 30,000 soldiers with infantry shovels.

• military
• volunteers
• women

Before the full-scale Russian invasion, the medic with the call sign Shining got a degree in history and archaeology and planned to enter the field. With the outbreak of the great war, Shining decided that the history teacher’s classroom could wait, but evacuating the wounded from the front line was urgent business. So she volunteered to join the Hospitallers medical battalion. She rescued the injured military personnel in the hottest spots of the frontline, and now she is working in one of the stabilization centers. This is a place to stabilize wounded soldiers’ health conditions as quickly as possible, and everything is done to help them get to a hospital. The girl often had to perform resuscitation in extreme conditions, bringing defenders back to life. But sometimes doctors are powerless. In such cases, Shining is afraid to see the face of a soldier whose life they failed to save on the news.

The girl is not disclosing her real name for security reasons.

• doctors
• military
• women

Before the start of russia’s full-scale invasion, Yuliia Vitova worked as a journalist, her husband was a TV cameraman. In the first days of the war, he was mobilized and became a fighter in the territorial defense forces. The woman made news reports, and a little later became a TV presenter. Yuliia often had to hold back her emotions during live broadcasts, because her husband was in the area attacked by the enemy. In the end, Yuliia decided that it was time to join her beloved: on March 13, 2023, the woman joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Currently, Yuliia has the call sign “Volyn” and serves together with her husband as a rifleman. She admits that with her height of 1.57 centimeters and a weight of 45 kilograms, the military service was not easy at first. After the victory of Ukraine, the servicewoman plans to become a psychologist and support those who need her help.

Important notice: Yuliia Vitova is in a war zone. She is ready to talk to journalists online and provide the necessary video and photo materials.

• military
• women

Alona Danilova’s stepfather enlisted in the army in 2014, was held captive, and since the full-scale invasion outbreak, he mobilized again. Alona’s husband had military experience: In 2018, he received a gunshot wound and became disabled, but this did not stop him from defending Ukraine again. Alona’s brother is studying at a military academy, so after the Russian invasion began, he went straight to practical training.

At the end of March, Alona created a channel in the telegram, gathering proactive women she knew. It was the beginning of the Ukrainian Women’s Battalion. The girls quickly determined the basic needs of the military and started to provide them with helmets, body armor, ammunition, and first aid kits. Over a year, the military expressed gratitude to the Ukrainian Women’s Battalion team, and at the end of 2022, the President of Ukraine recognized their work. The team has also launched a number of other initiatives, including the Women’s Voice project uniting women in need of psychological support willing to share their stories. The Ukrainian Women’s Battalion tells stories on its social media platforms so the world knows what Ukrainian women have been through.

• volunteers
• women

Nataliia Sosmii, a cadet of the Ivan Kozhedub Kharkiv National Air Force University, faced the Russian invasion in Kherson. In the first months of the occupation, she rode her bike around the city and passed information about the Russians to the Ukrainian soldiers she possessed. In late August, Nataliia decided to leave Kherson. But the flight was postponed, and 30 armed Russians broke into the cadet’s house. Natalia’s home was searched, and she was taken to a temporary detention center there. There, she was beaten and psychologically pressured: in particular, her 16-year-old daughter was threatened with rape. “They said that they would take me to Donbas and let me go towards the Ukrainian military to be shot by Ukrainian soldiers. I said that I would rather be killed by my people rather than die here,” the cadet recalls.

Nataliia also heard how her classmate Oleksandr was being tortured. To save him, she agreed to take part in the recording of a Russian propaganda video. Nataliia has left Kherson and is safe and ready to talk to the media.

• prisoners
• russian crimes
• women

Before the full-scale invasion, Diana Ilnytska was conducting parenting courses and devoting herself to raising her two children. At the end of February 2022, the woman began to actively volunteer, sending clothes and shoes to Ukrainian defenders. Over time, Diana noticed that most of the military sleep in low-quality sleeping bags, freeze, and cannot rest properly. Diana and the team of the Riy Charitable Foundation managed to develop unique sleep systems that allow soldiers to sleep “just like in a bed”. According to Diana, their sleeping bags meet NATO standards but are several times cheaper than their foreign counterparts.
In addition, she organized the mobile bath unit production. One bath equipment made by Riy 150 soldiers can take a bath, wash, and dry their clothes daily. Six mobile units are already installed at the front, but the production facility in the Kyiv region is working on manufacturing new ones.

• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

After being drafted into the army on February 25 last year, Oksana’s husband, Andrii Hankevych, became a combat medic. The Last time Oksana had a telephone conversation with her husband was at 11 p.m. on July 5, 2022, and at 1 a.m., he died. That time, her husband told Oksana: “You are strong. You will succeed no matter what happens to me.” These words enabled Oksana to move on, seek support, and raise her three children. The woman calls the Office of Support for Military Families in Lviv her second home. Thanks to the people at the Office, Oksana was able to create her own project, “Keep on Living.” And she is now trying to help the wives and mothers of soldiers who have been killed, gone missing, or captured. The project consists of several parts, including a photo shoot for women. The project’s author is convinced that positive emotions are the medicine that gives military families the strength to persevere in difficult times.

• casualties
• dead
• prisoners
• women

Before the full-scale Russian invasion, Rina Reznik was a high school biology teacher interested in treating brain injuries. Later, she joined the Holosiivskyi Territorial Defense Forces and, in a few weeks, headed to the Donetsk region. Today, Rina is a medic with the Hospitallers Medical Battalion, and she is in charge of blood transfusions at the front and ensuring proper conditions for medical procedures.

• doctors
• military
• women

Anna joined the 93rd Mechanized Brigade “Kholodnyi Yar” in the spring of last year. Since “Tsunami” has a background in logistics, the girl had planned to do this kind of work, instead she became a liaison officer. And later, she even retrained to become a kamikaze drone operator. Then she became the commander of an FPV drone unit. Anna has already been to many hot spots: Izium, Soledar and Bakhmut. There, she successfully used drones to attack the invaders. The woman has already transferred to “Herts” regiment of the Airborne Assault Troops. And now she is in Zhytomyr oblast for additional training.

• military
• women