Women have played active roles in the Revolution of Dignity, the war in Donbas, and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Since 2014, women have reported discrimination and gender equality within the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU), with projects to counteract this such as Invisible Battalion.

Initially restricted to traditional female roles such as nurses and rear echelon radio operators, gradually, after the February 2022 invasion, the Ukraine government introduced rules that allowed women to drive trucks in combat zones, to serve in the infantry as drone operators, machine gunners, or snipers, to become tank commanders and in Ukraine’s special forces. Women have been deployed on combat operations in southeastern Ukraine for several months.https://www.kyivpost.com/analysis/23928

Number of women in the Ukrainian military Personnel statistics

Since 2013, the number of women in the Armed Forces has been growing steadily: as of May 2021, there were twice as many women in the military as in 2013. The number of female officers has almost tripled (5,000), and the number of female cadets has almost quadrupled. Between 2014 and March 2023, the number of female military personnel in the ZSU increased 2.5-fold (from 16,557 to 42,898), while the number of female officers rose to 7,416, almost a sevenfold increase compared to 2014. In the same period, the number of women employed as civilian personnel decreased from 33,369 to 17,640; the net total number of women employed in both military and civilian professions in the ZSU increased by 10,612.

Since the beginning of the Russian large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, more than 11,000 women have joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine of their own free will. This was announced by the commander of the ZSU Joint Operational Headquarters Serhii Naiev: "From the first day of the war, women, along with men, have been queuing up at territorial recruitment centres to join the defence of our homeland. They chose the most dangerous specialities, joining the ranks of grenade launchers, machine gunners, riflemen and snipers, sometimes having ... a desire to become tank gunners, to be part of the gun and mortar crew."

As of 22 June 2023, Ukrainian women soldiers served in the following military branches:

Ukrainian Ground Forces (SV ZSU): more than 16,000 women, Ukrainian Air Force (PS ZSU): more than 7,000 women, Ukrainian Navy (VMS ZSU): almost 2,000 women, Ukrainian Air Assault Forces (DShV): almost 1,000 women, Territorial Defence Forces (TDF): over 3,000 women, and other components of the Defence Forces.

On 23 September 2026, in response to an inquiry by the Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian General Staff]l said that over 76,000 women served in the Ukrainian military. 57,000 in combat positions, the rest in civilian positions.

In commanding positions in the military

In 2004, the Interior Ministry spokeswoman was promoted to the (civilian) rank of major general of the Militsiya (precursor to the current National Police of Ukraine)." On 12 October 2018, Liudmyla Shuhalei became the first woman to receive the (military) rank of major general of the Military Medical Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) (). The first female branch commander of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (), Tetiana Ostashchenko, was appointed on 30 July 2021, becoming the first female commander of a separate branch in the history of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU), and the first female Brigadier General.

As of 26 February 2021, 925 servicewomen served in commanding positions. As of December 2021, more than 800 women commanded units and platoons. As of March 2023, the share of women in leadership positions was 11%. According to a Ministry of Defence representative, the positive dynamics indicated that the Armed Forces were making significant progress thanks to the Ministry's systematic work on gender issues.

As of January 2026, women made up 21% of officers in the military.

Participants in hostilities Women are actively involved in hostilities. As of March 2021, more than 10% of the total number of personnel involved in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) forces and facilities in Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast were women, said Viktoria Arnautova, the Adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Gender Issues.

More than 13,000 women received the status of "participant in hostilities" (; feminine ), the official legal term for "veteran" in Ukraine, for participation in the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Eastern Ukraine (14 April 2014 – 30 April 2018) and the Joint Forces Operation (30 April 2018 – 24 February 2022) as of March 2021, and more than 16,700 as of December 2021.

History

War in Donbas

The war has seen a significant increase in the number of women serving in the Ukrainian military, with several positions that had been reserved for men only being opened up to women. By 2016, 8.5 percent of the Ukrainian military were women and by March 2021, the percentage of women in the armed forces had risen to 22.8 percent, 15.5% of them described by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence as "service-personnel".

The Ukrainian Center for Drone Intelligence, which builds drones for the Ukrainian army and provides training courses for drone warfare, was founded by Maria Berlinska, who had volunteered to serve on the front after graduating from university.

A number of women soldiers have achieved high levels of public prominence during the war. Nadiya Savchenko, a fighter pilot who volunteered for the Aidar Battalion after her regular battalion was not deployed to the front, was named a Hero of Ukraine and elected to the Ukrainian Parliament after being captured by the Luhansk People's Republic.

Women have also featured in military propaganda in the war. In May 2014, Donetsk People's Republic Defence Minister Igor Girkin posted an online video calling for recruits, stating that "if men are not capable of this, we will have to call on women." In March 2015, on International Women's Day, the DNR held a propaganda beauty pageant featuring all female soldiers.

In their 2019 book Insurgent Women: Female Combatants in Civil Wars authors Darden, Henshaw and Szekely, while confirming the combat role of women in several Ukrainian and pro-Russian armed forces and militias as medics, drivers, sentries or on patrol, say that their participation in the first line of action, particularly as snipers, has been usually overstated by the media, or at least hard to verify. They distinguish female combatants by their motivation to become involved in the war. On the Ukrainian side, women were strongly moved by Ukrainian nationalism, while their pro-Russian counterpart fought for more personal reasons, like defending their families or homes. According to these authors, Ukrainian female soldiers actively chose "to go to the front. Those on the separatist side feel that the front came to them".

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

A significant number of women have volunteered to fight for the Ukrainian forces in response to the invasion. Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko of Georgia State University have stated that "Ukrainian women have historically enjoyed independence not common in other parts of the globe" and that "Ukraine offers a unique insight into the roles that women can play in defending the nation and as leaders in their own right." In September 2022, Aljazeera stated: "There are about 50,000 women serving in the Ukrainian armed forces in combat and non-combat roles, of which about 10,000 are currently either on the front lines of the war or in jobs that could send them to the front lines, according to Ukrainian military officials. There were about 32,000 women in the military prior to the invasion."

In October 2022, the first all-female prisoner of war exchange occurred between Russia and Ukraine, with 108 Ukrainian women being returned, including 37 who had fought in the Battle of Azovstal.

Conscription Under the looming threat from Russia, new legislation was enacted on 21 December 2021 requiring women to register for military service, if they are deemed medically fit for military service, are between the ages of 18 and 60, and work in specific professions. In the event of a major war, this expanded reserve of women would be mobilized as part of the national reserve to serve in a broad range of military specialties. According to earlier legislation, women in certain professions were already required to register for military conscription. However, the December 2021 revision of the law regulating Ukraine's military reserves dramatically expanded the number of professions that qualify for mandatory registration with the armed forces. Now women who are librarians, journalists, musicians, veterinarians, and psychologists, among many other professions, are required to register for military service. MP Oleksandra Ustinova stated: "...in [the] current situation, the decision to educate as many people as possible to hold arms and to be ready to serve seems a good one."

Following the 24 February 2022 invasion, the Ukrainian government enforced a mobilisation order on men aged between 18 and 60 to be available for conscription as combatants. In a representative national poll on 3–4 March 2022, 59% of Ukrainian women said they were 'ready to personally participate in the armed resistance to end the Russian occupation of Ukraine.' Though Ukraine's Ministry of Defence significantly expanded the pool of Ukrainian women who are required to register for military conscription into various non-combat roles, due to the initial influx of volunteers many have not been called up for conscription, and many female volunteers who were not required to register have been put on a waiting list. One woman who spoke to reporters said she had been told; "Ok, you will be in line. But now we have too many people". Many men and women who are not in the service of the military volunteer their time and work in supporting their communities in other ways. By mid-March 2022, additional Ukrainian women, after either leaving Ukraine as a refugee or living abroad, had also returned to the country to enlist in the armed forces, or provide support services, such as helping others evacuate. According to an April 2022 survey, 69% of women intended to help by providing non-military support (delivering food, information, or ammunition) to the Ukrainian army, 65% of women were thinking of caring for injured civilians and soldiers, and 27% of women had plans to join the Ukrainian forces in various combat roles. Conscription of women in general is not yet in place, however women with medical degrees are required to register for conscription

Notable individuals

In the opening days of the invasion, field medic Inna Derusova was said to have saved the lives of more than 10 soldiers during the Battle of Okhtyrka, before she was killed in a Russian artillery attack. On 12 March 2022, Derusova became the first woman to be posthumously awarded the highest national military title of Hero of Ukraine. During the invasion, became the first woman to command an artillery division in the Ukrainian army. , an artillery platoon commander, gained prominence on the internet after a video of her fighting during the Siege of Chernihiv went viral. Sarah Ashton-Cirillo is an American who initially worked as a journalist during the invasion before resigning to enlist as a combat medic in the Ukrainian military, later serving as a spokeswoman for the Territorial Defence Forces.

Position Combat and noncombat roles