Although women are exempt from conscription in Ukraine and granted asylum abroad, many of them have chose to stay and act. We meet the mothers and girls, combatants and carers, politicians and resistance fighters who are involved in the daily struggle for survival in Ukraine.
Traditionally, Ukrainian women have remained withdrawn from public affairs. But that changed in 2014 when many mobilized in Maidan Square to demand the fall of the pro-Russian government or to enlist in the army. Commander Maroussia, was among the first women to enlist in the army in 2014 to fight pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas. This mother of two has become an inspiration for many other women, who have followed in her footsteps.
We also obtained rare authorisation to follow a woman engaged in the regular army to the front. Since the beginning of the conflict, Iana, 30 years old has fought on the frontline. “Since the beginning of the fighting, I wanted to be here, with an assault rifle, in the trenches.”
Sophia, 20, a refugee in the metro in Kharkiv under the bombs, manages as best she can to feed her one-year-old son. In Bucha, Natacha and her daughter Vika wander through their destroyed city, after spending 40 days holed up in their cellar. We also meet Tatiana and her husband who is looking for their son Youri, 29, in the ruins and temporary morgues of the city.