ukraine: Women at war: Life on eastern Ukraine’s front lines

Kateryna by no means takes photos with comrades earlier than going to the entrance line — it is dangerous luck. Karina doesn’t inform her mom she goes to the entrance. Iana makes use of social media to attempt to increase the morale at dwelling.

On one other day of battle in japanese Ukraine, the three are resting with their unit in a village earlier than one other rotation.

They comply with speak about their lives on the entrance line of a battle they weren’t anticipating, which has lasted greater than 5 months — and felt like years.

Kateryna Novakivska, 29, is deputy commander of a unit within the Donbas, an industrial area in japanese Ukraine the place preventing is raging.

The 29-year-old comes from Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, and had simply graduated from a military academy when the battle broke out. Her position is to offer the troops with ethical and psychological help.

After talking concerning the “passable” morale amongst troopers and the justness of Ukraine’s trigger, she talks extra personally about life on the entrance.

“The toughest factor for them is shedding comrades,” she mentioned.

For Kateryna, it’s with the ability to distance herself from the troopers’ horrific tales.

“They discuss extra simply with me as a result of there are lots of issues that they can not inform their family members,” she mentioned.

Their largest concern is being left behind on the battlefield — lifeless or wounded.

She remembers in the future, Could 28, when 11 troopers had been killed and round 20 went lacking. Within the chaos of battle, some troops disappear and no one is aware of what has occurred to them.

Kateryna’s personal best concern is being kidnapped by Russian troopers, although she mentioned she has “deliberate for the whole lot”.

She has a small scar on her nostril — left by an explosion in March.

The lotus flower tattoo on her forearm is a reminiscence from her time in Volnovakha in 2017 — a city now in Russian-occupied territory that Kateryna mentioned “not exists”.

– ‘Maintaining morale’ – On social media, Iana Pazdrii performs on the stereotypes of being a soldier, displaying off her completely manicured nails as she drives an armoured automobile or clutches a Kalashnikov.

The 35-year-old has been preventing for the reason that begin of the invasion in Ukraine and, like all her comrades, has not seen her little one for 5 months.

“I volunteered as a result of I’m a patriot and I felt I may very well be helpful right here and I’m,” mentioned Iana, who speaks of the military as “a household”.

At any time when she has time, she posts little glimpses of army life on Instagram or TikTok.

“Some troopers must dwell on ‘line zero’ below shelling,” she mentioned, utilizing a time period regularly utilized in Ukraine for the entrance line.

“I attempt to present that we’re maintaining morale regardless of the whole lot, to inform folks to not be afraid and that the military is doing the whole lot to defend the nation.

“However to be sincere, it is laborious typically.”

Dozens of troopers are killed on daily basis on Ukraine’s japanese entrance, the place Russian forces made main advances in Could and June, taking on nearly the entire of the Lugansk area.

Since then, the entrance line has moved little, however ruthless artillery battles between the 2 sides have intensified.

– ‘Line zero’ – Karina, a former textile employee of Tajik origin who signed as much as the military in 2020 on a two-year contract, drives her armoured automobile forwards and backwards from the entrance line.

“After we are in place, it is laborious excited about fellow troopers, hoping that no one might be killed or wounded, that you simply your self is not going to come below assault,” mentioned the younger lady, who can also be a mechanic.

Her husband is anxiously ready for her at dwelling — however she mentioned “no one tells me what to do”.

When Karina calls her mom, she mentioned: “I do not inform her I am at line zero and she or he pretends to imagine me”.

Karina has no illusions — she doesn’t suppose the battle might be over quickly.

“The Russians have already taken lots of territory” in Ukraine, she mentioned.

Her sister-in-arms Iana insisted there was no possibility however victory.

“No matter occurs, we’ll win. We do not need the appropriate to lose,” she mentioned.

After the battle, Iana desires to journey to the Caribbean and South America.

“I have to fulfil my desires. I feel I deserve it,” she smiled.