Ukraine war: attitudes to women in the military are changing as thousands serve on front lines

Ukrainian soldiers Anastasia and Vyacheslav share a tender moment prior to their wedding ceremony in a city park in Kyiv, Ukraine. Women started serving in combat roles in 2016 and all military roles were opened to women in 2022.

Thousands of women have voluntarily joined Ukraine’s armed forces since 2014, when Russia’s occupation of Crimea and territories in eastern Ukraine began. Over the past nine years, the number of women serving in the Ukrainian military has more than doubled, with another wave of women joining after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Women have served in Ukraine’s armed forces since the country declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but were mainly in supporting roles until the beginning of the war in 2014. They started serving in combat roles in 2016 and all military roles were opened to women in 2022. However, many women in non-combat roles, such as medics, are exposed to the same dangers and hardships as their male and female colleagues who fire the weapons.