The Ukrainian military is very proud of Olesia Vorotnyk, the ballerina who exchanged her ballet shoes for an AK 47 rifle when the Russians invaded the country. Since the British weekly The Economist reported on her remarkable career change, under the headline ‘A Ukrainian ballerina goes to war’, Vorotnyk’s story is being marketed on social media by Kyiv.
After all, a more beautiful sign, an example of patriotism, is hardly imaginable. Three years ago, her husband was killed fighting pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas. Vorotnyk (30), who has a young son, did not hesitate for a moment when Moscow gave the go-ahead for the raid.
“When the large-scale Russian invasion began, Olesia Vorotnyk, a ballerina at the National Opera, joined the military reserves,” the defense ministry tweeted on Wednesday. Complete with photos showing Vorotnyk in the opera house and in military uniform, posing in front of sandbags with an AK-47 in hand. The ballerina herself thought her choice was no less than logical. “I can shoot, it’s my hobby,” she says in the weekly. “I knew I wouldn’t go abroad in an invasion. I would fight.’
When russian large-scale invasion began Olesia Vorotnyk, a ballerina with the National Opera of Ukraine, joined the @TDF_UA
Her husband was killed in the war 3 years ago. Now Olesia is back on stage, but continues military training.
?Oleksandra Zlunitsyna, Olesia Vorotnyk pic.twitter.com/62Oq39jPqc— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 6, 2022
To defend
Nearly nine million Ukrainians have fled the country since the war began, mostly women and children. Many stragglers, from housewives to parliamentarians, joined the volunteer brigades to help defend their neighborhood. Others reported to the army and the Territorial Defense Force (TDF), the armed forces’ national reserves that also serve former soldiers.
Partly because of the war, the number of women in the Ukrainian army has never been higher. State Secretary of Defense Anna Maljar reported last year that about 15 percent of military personnel were women, now this is about 22 percent. ‘We are leading the way, also according to NATO standards’, says Maljar about the large number of women, 37 thousand, in the armed forces.
Before the Russian capture of Crimea in 2014, increasing the number of women in the military was not such a priority. That changed quickly, also because of the raid on the Donbas. The army, under American and European supervision, underwent a major reorganization. Many positions were opened to women.
??The girl is only 19. She studied medicine at the university. Now she’s a combat medic.
Olga is the only woman in the counter-sabotage unit of the Ternopil 105th Brigade of the TDF.
«?? victory is only a matter of time!» Olga said.
Ukrainian ladies are amazing! pic.twitter.com/fQyiKvvrkt
— TDF_UA (@TDF_UA) June 18, 2022
Combat Features
Gone are the days when female soldiers only performed support functions, such as cooks and nurses. Now women in the military hold leadership positions, work as drivers and serve as marksmen at the front. Yet, as in other European armies, they are excluded from many combat functions, among other things because of the heavy physical demands.
The turnaround the military has made in recent years is now benefiting Kyiv. If the war drags on and turns into a war of attrition, the army commanders will be able to use everyone. In the Donbas alone, about one hundred to two hundred Ukrainian soldiers are said to be killed every day.
“The chances are that most men, as well as most women, will have to go to war,” said military spokesman in Odesa, Serhei Bratchuk, on Tuesday. It is unclear whether he meant that more women should serve at the front.
The army and the Territorial Defense Force show daily on social media how important they think the role of the female soldiers is. It is part of the carefully devised strategy to promote solidarity among the population. When President Volodymyr Zelensky talks about the military, he constantly talks about “our heroes and heroines.”
47-y-old Natalia, a Ukrainian doctor who had lived in Innsbruck, Austria, for decades, returned to serve as a paramedic with the Hospitallers medical battalion.
She lost her life during frontline duty & was buried in Kyiv a few days ago.
She leaves behind a 25-y-old daughter. pic.twitter.com/ztp8r99Dmh
— Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) July 3, 2022
To bury
On the Twitter account of the Territorial Defense Forces, women are portrayed as they are working in trenches with hand grenades or at the shooting range. “Not all heroes wear capes,” reads a photo of a female soldier in a muddy field. “Some wear a shard vest.”
Ukrainian women abroad also join the army or reserve units. For example, 47-year-old Natalia Frauscher, who worked as a doctor in Innsbruck, Austria, decided to return to her native country after the invasion. She served with the Hospitallers, a medical battalion of first responders. Frauscher died last week when her bus carrying volunteers collided with a military vehicle.
She was buried in Kyiv last week amid great interest. Brazilian Thalita do Valle, who had left for Ukraine to fight as a sniper, was also killed in a Russian artillery attack near Kharkiv. “She had a very comfortable and safe life there with her family,” Ukrainian ambassador to South Africa Lyubov Abravitova said of Frauscher on Monday. “But when the Russian plague came into our lives, she couldn’t watch from the sidelines.”
Ballerina Olesia has since exchanged the AK-47 for her ballet shoes. The Ukrainian continues to practice shooting every day because she wants to be well prepared when she is called up again. In her eyes, the Russian soldiers are looters and war criminals. “I wonder if they’ve read Pushkin,” she tells The Economistreferring to the famous Russian poet.