Ukraine women prepare for call of duty


Tetiana Dovbii (left) and Anya Rudak participating in a course in firearms and urban combat in a forest near Kyiv. With so much in the war against Russia hinging on refilling the ranks of soldiers, efforts are underway to draw more Ukrainian women into the army. — ©2023 The New York Times Company

HALYNA Vynokur, a clerk in a hardware store in Kyiv, was shouldering a firearm for the first time. Iryna Sychova, a purchasing manager at a department store, disassembled and reassembled the jumble of rods and springs in a Kalashnikov rifle.

They were among two dozen women who turned out in a forest near Kyiv one recent weekend for a course in firearms and urban combat, training that included shooting rifles, finding booby traps and throwing hand grenades. They were spurred by a sense of duty, they said, realising they might some day end up on the front lines.

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