Stories of “Modern heroines of Ukraine: women resisting, rescuing, and fighting for freedom” discussed at the University of Verona

The Department of Foreign Languages and Literature of the University of Verona held the series of seminars “Її – Her: dimensions of Ukrainian Womanhood”. ZMINA’s International Advocacy Manager Tetiana Zhukova joined this initiative with the lecture “Modern Heroines of Ukraine: Women Resisting, Rescuing, and Fighting for Freedom”.

The series of seminars is organised at the University of Verona with the efforts of Prof. Artoni and Prof. Giust, as well as the PhD students Diana Bota and Khrystyna Yordan, supported by Memorial Italia and AISU.

Zhukova covered topics of women on the battlefield, medics and first aid responders, journalists and war correspondents, volunteers, activists and human rights defenders.

Russia’s invasion that began in 2014 has tested Ukraine’s strength, but in this struggle, Ukrainian women have stood at the forefront. Over 70,000 women serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces today. Around 4,000 women are on the front lines. The Armed Forces Personnel Centre calls this the largest number of women on the battlefield in modern world history.

Ukrainian women have also played an essential role in providing emergency medical aid, performing life-saving surgeries, and evacuating the wounded under extreme conditions. Medical professionals often work under bombardment, treating the wounded in underground hospitals or amid battle. Zhukova told the audience stories of paramedics Kateryna Polishchuk and Iryna Tsybukh.

The war has left thousands of Ukrainian women widowed, orphaned, or displaced. Despite this unimaginable loss, they continue to fight through activism, journalism, advocacy, and community rebuilding.

They keep resisting even in the dangerous conditions of the occupation. In early 2023, the nonviolent female resistance movement “Zla Mavka” was formed and gathered hundreds of women in various occupied territories. It works both online and on the ground in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. Its activists, risking their lives, distribute posters, leaflets and other materials in the occupied cities.

Zhukova mentioned that 31 female journalists and civil society representatives were murdered because of the Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, in particular, volunteers Valeria Yutina, Elvira Shchemur, Anastasia Yalanska and Zhanna Kameneva, activists’ family Yevhenia, Daria, Yaryna and Emilia Bazylevych, a writer and human rights defender Viktoria Amelina.

Many more were tortured and detained. She highlighted stories of a citizen journalist from Crimea Iryna Danylovych, sentenced to 6 years and 11 months in prison; a pensioner from Crimea Halyna Dovhopola, sentenced to 12 years in a maximum security penal colony; a journalist from Melitopol Iryna Levchenko, who was abducted and is held incommunicado; a human rights defender and a volunteer from Kherson Iryna Horobtsova, sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison.

ZMINA’s International Advocacy Manager recommended sharing stories of those detained, writing about them on social media, sending letters to places of their detention, and addressing the government, asking to make statements about these people and call for their release.

The women of Ukraine are not just victims of war — they are warriors, leaders, and beacons of hope. Whether fighting on the front lines, saving lives in hospitals, exposing the truth through journalism, or mobilizing global support, these women are shaping Ukraine’s destiny.

Listen to the podcast “Inclusioni – EP 14 – Modern Heroines of Ukraine: Women Resisting, Rescuing, and Fighting for Freedom” here.