Ukraine’s women wage war on Russia as mothers, breadwinners and soldiers

Valerii Zaluzhnyicommander-in-chief

There is a direct threat of the use, under certain circumstances, of tactical nuclear weapons by the Russian Armed Forces."

General Valery Zaluzhnyi, formerly Ukraine's top soldier who is now the country's ambassador to the U.K., said in remarks published by Ukrainian media

That was not just opening new opportunities for women, but naming them by … posts they were actually fulfilling,

said Orobets

We were discussing their future professions, and we came up with the suggestion that besides a civilian profession everyone should choose for themselves, they also need to have some military skills, depending on their talents and their interest,

Orobets said

In 2014 … women who wanted to take combat positions as snipers and [operating] grenade launchers could not officially hold these positions, so they were put down as cooks and medics but were actually doing the combat role,

said Kravchuk, the parliamentarian

Yevheniya Kravchukukrainian MP

We don’t have compulsory conscription for women. All joined voluntarily for different reasons,

parliamentarian Yevheniia Kravchuk told Al Jazeera

We fight against our children being deported to Russia and being raised as Russians, and we fight against our women being raped and killed. And of course, against everyone being killed,

said Zarembo, referring respectively to Ukrainian allegations of the forcible transfer of children to Russia without familial consent and of Moscow’s forces committing sexual assault and other war crimes

His salary we donated to his regiment, to his cause,

she explained to Al Jazeera

All these women came during war,

Tregub said, and were helping direct resources where they needed to go

I was thinking, the future of Ukraine is in the hands of Ukraine’s army, and that’s why I have to be part of the professional community, not just a volunteer,

she told Al Jazeera

I think what Donald Trump is doing right now is not just retreating from Europe. It is actually, possibly harming Ukraine in the battle against Russia. It is actually creating an autocracy in real time,

she said

It has built a brainwashed ideology of bringing back the empire. Therefore, Russia under this leadership and with this state ideology will remain a threat for as long as it has this leadership,

the Polish foreign minister said

I think we cannot be certain of what our large neighbour, Russia, will do while Vladimir Putin is in charge of this nation,

he said