Ukrainian women fighting on the front line

We first met Mararia Rivchachenko in September near the city of Izzyum. She accompanied a television team of America's Voice demanding alleged war crimes by Russian forces. With fragile yet bold sights, she showed us the way to a newly discovered mass grave.

Now a press officer for army command, she was summoned to the capital. We met again in the office of “Ukrainska Pravda”, an online newspaper where she had worked before the war.

When the Russians entered Kiev in February 2022, her father enrolled in the army, as did her boyfriend. Mararita decided to do the same, registering with territorial protection forces.

I thought if I had a gun, I would do something more for my life... I didn't want to leave Ukraine. I wanted to do something more for my country. ”

She says the hardest thing in war is to hear about the death of your friends.

I'm not afraid to go back to the Donnetsk region to fight because I feel very good with my soldiers. But it's a little hard to think of my people, my friends, my father. Now he's in Bakhmut, my boyfriend. It's not hard to serve, it's hard to wait for someone from front”, says Marharyta Rivchechenko for Voice of America.

Former TV reporter Anastasia Blishkki also enrolled with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Born of Kherson, she says she had wanted to join the army for three years but hesitated. This changed when the Russians launched a large-scale offensive. Walking along Michailivska Square in Kiev, near the flat Russian armoured vehicles, it recalls the crucial moment.

I texted my fiancé, journalist and soldier of the 95 Air Brigade Oleksander Makhov on February 24th. On February 25, he called me and asked how I was. I told him I would join the army, and he supported my” decision.

Then came the tragedy. In May, her fiancé was killed in battles for Izzyum.

It looked like people like him were immortal. I thought it could happen to anyone, but not to him. And when I got the call... I didn't want anyone to hear what I heard. It was difficult”, says Anastasia Blychyk.

About a year later from the front, despite great victories, her grief is still present.

It's easier there... I saw with my own eyes the liberation of Izzyum, the liberation of the Dovhenke village, where Sasha died... Izzy and Dovhenke are ours, but that doesn't make me feel better”

Anastasia, who is eager to return to the front, explains what victory means for her.

The festival will come not only when we return all our territories, but when we clear the country of all traitors, when all Ukrainians realize that our language is the most powerful weapon and when there's respect for all those... who are now on the front line of”.