Themes by tag: women

Nataliia Plakhotniuk was born in Luhansk region and dreamed of becoming a teacher from an early age. She graduated from a university in the east, gained her first teaching experience, and later met her future husband. Pavlo is a professional soldier, who has been in the ranks of the Armed Forces since 2004. A few years ago, the couple moved to Bucha, Kyiv region.

On February 24, 2022, Pavlo and Nataliia learned about the beginning of the big war. The husband was immediately called up for duty, and Nataliia and her children left Bucha only on February 25, when russian tanks had already entered nearby Hostomel. After the liberation of Kyiv region and returning home, Nataliia realized that she wanted to teach children and open her own business. She learned about the Smartum training center franchise, got state financial support for military personnel and their families, and opened her training center in Bucha. Currently, 45 children study in Nataliia’s class. They study mental arithmetic, speed reading and English as well as prepare for school. 

• children
• occupation
• women
• Kyiv

Yuliia Dudysheva is a refugee from Crimea. Before the full-scale invasion, the girl lived and worked in Chernihiv oblast. She was working in advertising, and sometimes helped friends renovate their homes.

After the liberation of Chernihiv oblast in the spring of 2022, Yuliia quit her job and began looking for a new path for herself. In June of this year, the girl began to renovate, restore and decorate apartments for those who had to flee from the war. The first people Yuliia helped were her friends, who allowed the woman to furnish their home. Later, the Crimean woman met another family that needed help with repairs and design. Yuliia is active on social networks, where she shows the entire process of home renovation. Subscribers support her “Coziness for IDPs” project, in particular, they help purchase materials needed for renovation works.

• reconstruction
• women
• Chernihiv

Mariia Volia was born and raised in Mariupol, a city in the south of Ukraine that was destroyed and occupied by the russians last spring. The girl joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2015. She wanted to defend the country after the first russian attacks on Mariupol. Currently, Mariia Volia is a mortar commander at the front.

Before the occupation of her hometown, the girl had been hiding her orientation. However, after she was wounded in Mariupol, and later escaped from the russian encirclement, Mariia opened up to her brothers in arms. Currently, the commander of the mortar unit hopes that civil partnerships will be legalized in Ukraine, because in the future she wants to get married with her partner.

• military
• women
• LGBT

At the onset of the full-blown war, Nadiia’s husband stood up to defend the country and joined the Territorial Defense. He was killed while holding the defense of Chernihiv region in March 2022. Three children became fatherless. The house that the man was building for his family was destroyed by the occupiers. Nadiia was offered to sell the land, but she refused because she dreamed of rebuilding the house in memory of her loved one.

Currently, Dobrobat volunteers are helping to restore the house. They have already brought building materials to the construction site.

• dead
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• women
• Chernihiv

Oksana, born in Kherson, has 27 years of teaching experience (pursuing a career in out-of-school learning). At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Oksana headed to her sister’s house on the left bank of the Kherson region and ended up in an occupied area. She managed to escape on June 1, 2023. Now she lives in a public housing community in the Kyiv region, and since September she has been holding Ukrainian language and literature classes for 9th and 11th graders in-person and online. Oksana gives online lessons in one of the kitchens of the social housing so as not to disturb other IDPs living nearby. 

In addition to teaching essential school subjects, she also runs the Dzhura club, an all-Ukrainian game for children and youth, a form of extracurricular work on the patriotic and moral education of children

For reference: November 11, 2023, marks the one-year anniversary of retaking Kherson. Also, during last year’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated some districts of the Kherson region and part of the Mykolaiv region on the right bank of the Dnipro River.

• children
• occupation
• women
• Kyiv

Ksenia Kostenko quit a successful IT career and started a farm in the Bucha district of Kyiv region. She even patented her own fertilizer production technology.

When Russia landed troops in the Kyiv region in February 2022, there were no workers on her field, which was a great joy to Ksenia. The farmer left for Kyiv and later learned that her house had been destroyed and the fields around her contaminated with mines. Ksenia engaged in volunteering and helping the Ukrainian army. Upon the de-occupation of the Kyiv region and having received permission from the sappers, she returned home. Now, the farmer is working to restore the capacity of her enterprise. 

• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv

Photographer Uliana Sidletska, together with makeup artist and stylist Victoria Sanatos, conducts photoshoots for women. They say that they work on the inner state of women. In particular, they help them break free from insecurity and see themselves differently, during photo sessions. 

Two months ago, a woman who had lost her husband in the war came to have some snapshots. After she posted the photos on social media, she faced judgment from people blaming her for inappropriate behavior as a widow doing a photoshoot. Then, to support other wives of fallen Ukrainian heroes, Viktoria and Uliana came up with the idea to create the photo project “I AM A WOMAN” aiming to manifest that women should never forget about themselves. Uliana and Viktoria take photos of fallen heroes’ wives free of charge.

Eight women have already taken part in the photo project. According to the organizers, while posing for photos, women are starting to unfold themselves: they talk about themselves, recall their dreams, and some even say that they have realized something they have been putting off for a long time.

The “I AM A WOMAN” photo project exhibition will open on December 17. The project applications are accepted from other country regions.

• culture
• dead
• military
• women
• Vinnytsia

Before the full-fledged invasion, Inna Yakovenko dealt with selling windows and doors. The businesswoman runs two trade pavilions in the village of Novovorontsovka in the Kherson region. At the outbreak of the full-blown, the woman’s village remained the only Ukraine-controlled one in the Novovorontsovka community. However, the settlement has come under Russian strikes hitting nearly every day for 7 months. Inna lived in the basement throughout August 2022, because of the nonstop shell rains. The heavy bombardment damaged the trade pavilions where Inna was selling. So, after the Ukrainian military liberated the community, the entrepreneur chose a new path and set up a granite dust block production facility to help rebuild dwellings for villagers who had begun to return home. Now she plans to scale up production to create as many jobs as possible.

For reference: November 11, 2023, marks the one-year anniversary of retaking Kherson. Also, during last year’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated some districts of the Kherson region and part of the Mykolaiv region on the right bank of the Dnipro River.

• casualties
• women
• Kherson

Tetiana Smylovenko is 19 years old. Currently, the girl is a two-time champion of “Olympic Hopes” and a multiple world and Europe medalist. But when she was only four, Tetiana and her younger brother ended up in an orphanage, and four more of her sisters and brothers were taken to a boarding school for orphans. Two years later, a foster family took all the children in, but soon gave them up. Later, a local school teacher agreed to take the children in, and Tetiana and her brothers and sisters moved to a family-type children’s home. When the girl was 11 years old, her adoptive mother suggested that she try her hand at sports, namely rowing. Tetiana first chose a kayak, and later – a canoe. The young woman takes prize-winning places, dreams of going to the Olympics and later become a coach to motivate and support others.

Currently, Tetiana lives in Kirovohrad oblast, but often travels to different regions of Ukraine. She is ready to communicate with the media by prior arrangement.

• women

Valentyna Hantseva has been working in the library of Soldatske village, Sumy oblast for 32 years. A few months before the full-scale invasion, the library had undergone modern renovation and purchased new equipment. But the building of the library could not withstand the air strike of the russians, who aimed right at the center of the occupied village. Only the roof and walls remained of the library: everything inside the building was damaged by the blast wave. Despite the occupation and the enemy aircraft, Valentyna, together with her husband, began to gather the undamaged books and hide them in grain sacks. The woman managed to take out and save more than 1000 books.

In April 2022, the Ukrainian military de-occupied the village. A philanthropist from Germany helped restore the library premises, and last fall, Valentyna opened the doors of the library to readers again.

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes
• women
• Sumy