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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War ready
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
Tetiana Dovbii, left, and Anya Rudak participating in a course in firearms and urban combat in a forest near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, on Oct. 14, 2023. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)
Iryna Sychova learning to aim a sniper rifle. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
Iryna Sychova, a purchasing manager at a department store, learning to aim a sniper rifle during a course in firearms and urban combat in a forest near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, on Oct. 14, 2023. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)
Women learning to apply tourniquets. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
Women learn to apply tourniquets during a course in firearms and urban combat, in a forest near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, on Oct. 14, 2023. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)
Lika Kopovska participating in a course in firearms and urban combat in a forest near Kyiv. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
Lika Kopovska participating in a course in firearms and urban combat in a forest near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, on Oct. 14, 2023. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)
Instructor Dmytro Hulakova demonstrating the creation of a booby trap with a grenade and a trip wire. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
Instructor Dmytro Hulakova demonstrating the creation of a booby trap with a grenade and a trip wire during a course in firearms and urban combat, in a forest near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, on Oct. 14, 2023. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)
Viktoria Dovbysh (left) and Tetyana Demchenko practising loading bullets into a magazine. — ©2023 The New York Times Company
Viktoria Dovbysh, left, and Tetyana Demchenko practice loading bullets into a magazine during acourse in firearms and urban combat in a forest near Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, on Oct. 14, 2023. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times)
