As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears its fourth year, more Ukrainian women are joining the war effort — thanks to modern warfare.
More than 70,000 women are currently serving in Ukraine’s military in 2025, a 20% increase from 2022, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said.
When Russian strongman Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in 2022, scores of young Ukrainian men lined up at army recruitment centers in a wave of patriotic fervor.
But since then, Kyiv’s army has been dealt a debilitating blow — an estimated 45,000 soldiers have been killed and at least another 390,000 wounded, according to the most recent estimates given by President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year.
Thanks to modern warfare and technology opening up traditionally male army roles, the military has tailored its recruitment push to women over the last few months.
Drone pilots in particular have been one of the military’s most popular combat roles for women, according to military officials.
“The fact that technology lets us deliver ammunition without carrying it in our hands or running it to the front line, that’s incredible,” Monka, 26, who serves in the Unmanned Systems Battalion of Ukraine’s Third Army Corps, as a pilot of short-range first-person view drones.
Drones have been a central strategy for Kyiv, relying on small but mighty ones to deliver crushing blows to Russia’s oil and gas industry, which bankrolled Putin’s war efforts.
The Ukrainians’ reliance on drones was partly born out of necessity, with artillery shells increasingly difficult to source from the US and Europe.
Ukraine, as a result, improvised and created a drone production industry out of self-sourced material.
The devices can now be used as kamikaze drones that crash into their targets and explode, while others can drop bombs and return to their operator.
Some are also used for reconnaissance and locating the enemy without sending troops into too-close positions.
“I liked that you could strike the enemy remotely,” said 25-year-old soldier Yaha, a bomber-drone pilot in the 9th Brigade. “So I thought this was our future.
“War is not cool or glamorous. It’s pain, suffering and loss. You just do it because you want to change the situation.”
Of the 70,000 women in the army, more than 5,500 were deployed directly to the front line.
It is unknown how many of them have died in combat.
With Post Wires
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