2023-08-12 22:06:55
Hundreds of men, women and children wait with roses and carnations in hand on both sides of Dokivska Street and in the small park that leads to the steps of the Unity Church in the western Kotsyubyns’ke neighborhood of Kiev. .
The only sound disturbing the male voices in the recording of the folk song Plyve Kacha (Remember the Heroes) is the sob of pain from Eleonora Maltseva’s mother, Iryna, as she awaits the arrival of her daughter’s coffin in the shadow of a the maples and oaks in front of the big yellow brick church.
Their daughter, known to everyone as Elya, was a 34-year-old colonel in the Ukrainian army, as well as a talented soccer player and mother of 14-year-old Tymofiy. He was one of 12 soldiers killed last month when a Russian plane struck the five-story apartment block where they worked in the southeastern Zaporizhia town of Orikhove, a key scene of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
The funeral was so crowded that it had to be held outdoors. Iryna, dressed in black and with a shawl covering her head, is inconsolable, but every once in a while she leans forward in her chair, as if she doesn’t want to miss the arrival of her daughter. she. Beside her, Tymofiy, a swarthy, brown-eyed boy in a smart short-sleeved dark blue shirt and freshly pressed jeans, looks impassive, puzzled.
The hearse turns right on Dokivska Street and comes onto the scene. With a groan, Iryna stands up and tries to run to her daughter’s coffin, resisting those who tried to hold her. “Let me see her,” she yells as some attendees try to grab the frail woman.
Tymofiy, overwhelmed by the situation, as if suddenly realizing that what was happening was real, falls onto the left shoulder of his stepfather’s military uniform, Mykola. The boy’s head will remain on his stepfather’s shoulder throughout the funeral service, while Mykola caresses his cheek and tenderly rubs the back of his neck. The young man trembles and is visibly moved.
More than 100 Ukrainian female soldiers have been killed since Vladimir Putin invaded the country. Ukraine does not recruit women. Each of them has volunteered to go to the front.
“Elya was a flame that I followed, a bright flame who always did the right thing. We need more women like her in our military,” said a sergeant who had been asked to speak at the funeral. However, another soldier tells The Guardian that while Maltseva’s views were respected and listened to by her colleagues, “the same was not true of those at the top level of command.”
“We follow NATO protocols, but we have a Soviet system and mentality,” he adds. If Elya’s opinion had been taken into account that day, the soldiers would not have died, he says.
Some 60,000 women serve in the Ukrainian armed forces, of which 5,000 are on the front lines. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense places great emphasis on the image of unity of all soldiers, whether they are men or women. However, the truth is that from interviews with female soldiers and organizations that support them, such as the Veteranka organization for women veterans and the Zemliachky organization, which has donated some 2 million dollars (1.8 million euros) in vital equipment , a picture has emerged suggesting that disrespect for the views of the military is one of the problems holding back the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian army.
It is a source of frustration and anger for platoon sergeant Nadiya Haran, 27, who joined the army in 2017 as a radio technician. She wanted to be a translator, but until Decree 256 was repealed that same year, the law prevented women from holding positions of responsibility, including those in combat.
Haran points out that equality between men and women in the military currently exists on paper, but hardly shows in practice. The needs of women in terms of uniforms, bulletproof vests, hygiene and professional development are not considered a priority and many men who fight alongside them perceive their demands as a form of provocation.
“I would say we have to fight two enemies at the same time,” says Haran: “One is Russia, obviously. And the other is the stereotypes and stigma you face every day. The only place I can say that I didn’t perceive that stigma was at ground zero [en el frente]because we were all focused on fighting for our country.”
As for uniforms, women should settle for wearing ones designed for men, buy their own, or ask for a donation. Haran, who has been involved in the most intense fighting in places like Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region, explains that not being able to move properly in the uniform she was wearing caused her knee injury. Bulletproof vests issued by the military are not designed for the female figure, so they squeeze the chest or bulge through the stomach, exposing vital organs to damage.
Kateryna Myronchuck, 26, a senior lieutenant in the 36th Brigade, says she took two years to be admitted to the army just because she was a woman. She had to buy her own plates and jacket, since the army stuff gave her back pain.
Then there is the shoe issue. “It’s very difficult to find military boots in small sizes,” says Olena Bilozerska, 44, a renowned sniper with multiple casualties behind her.
The list of shortcomings is long. There is no contraception at the front lines and no female urinary diversion devices are provided to allow women in the trenches to stand up when relieving themselves to avoid infection. The medics on the ground are not trained in gynecology, and when a female soldier’s contract comes to an end, she must undergo a medical examination in order to be re-enlisted. For many critical voices, with this test they want to rule out the possibility that the soldiers are pregnant and want paid leave.
Despite all these humiliations, the military interviewed indicate that in reality the most urgent thing is to change the mentality. Haran, recently transferred from unit after her formal complaints about the conduct of the senior men went nowhere, explains that after a successful mission on the front lines, a senior officer from her former brigade snapped at her. that “her place was in the kitchen.” She explains that many other women have had similar experiences.
“Yesterday I spoke with a soldier who knows that I am a former gender counselor in the army, who was committed by her commander to a psychiatric facility without her consent just because she requested a transfer to a combat unit,” says Haran. “It’s that serious. And a female medical soldier who was in my unit, under my command, filed a complaint for sexual harassment and there were witnesses, but all the men refused to testify on her behalf and her commander threatened to put her in a hospital. center, just for reporting that she was being sexually harassed. In her opinion, some hate the idea of women in the military while others hope to take advantage of her presence.
“Leave [mi brigada] because there was a person at the top of the chain of command who harassed women and I know those women,” says Haran. “Some of them are subordinates of mine and therefore I have a responsibility. They were harassed by the same man, who basically told them that if they refused to have sex with him, he would send their husbands, who were also in the brigade, to their deaths. He told me to shut up because he wasn’t harassing me.”
The Guardian has urged the Defense Ministry to speak to Haran and investigate the allegations, but has received no response. According to Haran, women have many reasons to rule out being members of their country’s armed forces. However, more and more women are in positions of responsibility and the future for which Elya fought so hard is still intact.
In a Skype conversation from a military base, Haran says: “Despite all the obstacles, every day we fight to improve our situation and we take steps forward, we overcome obstacles and see improvements.”
Translation by Emma Reverser.
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