International Women's
Day, a
day to honor achievements
by women all around the world.
But for women in Ukraine, it's
another day of grinding war
as Ukrainian forces
try to fend off
Russian troops
in the pivotal
eastern city of parliament.
Ukrainian women
have been killed in a year
long war since Russia invaded.
They've been wounded.
They've lost their loved
ones, their homes
and their hope for a secure future.
Ukrainian President Zelenskiy honor
the women who have given
their lives to the country
and had this message
for the Ukrainian people.
Grandchildren
when you meet the
Ukrainian men and women.
Today is International Women's Day,
a day of the fight for women's rights.
Each year I thank my mother.
I call her to thank her
that there has always been
respect in my family.
I thank my
wife that we love each other
and that we have beautiful children.
I think women who work with me.
It is very important
that we are equal colleagues
With time now for the exchange
and joining me is in itself son.
She's a member of Ukraine's parliament
and served as Ukraine's deputy
minister of education and science
from 2014 to 2016.
A pleasure to have you on the show
and happy International Women's Day.
Thanks for your time
Thank you for having me.
And.
Same to you and all of us.
So we obviously have been following
the battle for Mode for many weeks now.
Ukraine obviously doing
all it can to defend that city
because the fear is that Russia,
should it take
that city, will have an open road
to take larger
industrial cities
like crematoria and Slovyansk.
What can you tell us
about the battle on the front lines that.
Well, the situation in
Bermuda is indeed
very tense and very difficult
because Russia has basically
put all the forces
that they could dispense of
into that very small town
Why it is so important?
Because, yes,
they believe
that once they take over Bermuda,
they would be able to approach
big industrial zones
in Kramatorsk
where people are still live
and families are still living.
And that is what Russians
want to get access to,
because once they get there,
it would basically be able to claim that
absolute majority of Donetsk
and Luhansk regions
or the whole Donbass
all together is under their control.
And potentially for them,
that would be at least one way to claim
some sort of victory within this
this whole year of a full scale invasion
where they don't
really have a victory
to report to their own people.
That is why this battle of Bermuda became
so intensely important for them.
But then there is also
a kind of internal
political dimension to that,
because the major force
on the Russian side
fighting is the so-called Wagner Group,
which is a private military company,
which is using very,
very difficult methods of warfare.
They basically don't care
about the number of losses.
They have lost thousands of people
in that small town,
but they don't care about that.
They just need to show results
because that the leader of the group
and Mr.
Prigozhin,
he wants to show that he's
going to be more efficient
than the minister of defense.
So there is this
internal political dimension
now on the Russian side to that.
But because of that,
they have put an all forces
available in Bermuda.
And that is why it's very difficult
for Ukrainian forces
to hold to the town at this point.
And I was just reading about the 29 year
old medic,
the paramedic
who was photographed in action in March
and days later, she lost her life.
Talk to us about the impact of this
war on the women of Ukraine.
Well, the
impact is immense,
like like on men as well.
But I think it is slightly different
for women,
and it's actually a bit of divergent
ways in how this war affected women,
because on the one hand,
of course,
multiples of women, millions of women
have been kind of streamlined
into various stereotypical
roles of mothers
where they had to take their kids,
grab them and move out of the country.
Or if they stay inside the country,
they taken care of their kids,
became kind of their major,
major job
because their partners
have left for the poor, the frontline.
So on the one hand, there was this,
you know,
streamlining them
in those stereotypical women's roles.
But on the other hand,
the truth is that also many,
many women joined Ukrainian armed forces.
We have over 50,000 women
who are currently fighting
in the armed forces of Ukraine,
and they're gaining recognition.
So now when we talk about our defenders
in Ukrainian language,
like, for instance, in French,
there are different
known forms
from male and female professions.
So now when we talk about our defenders,
we use both female and male nouns,
so to speak, for defender in Ukrainian
to signifies
that we recognize
that there are also Ukrainian women
who are actually fighting this war
be to us as directly as fighters
or as as military medics in whatever role
they choose to do.
But but in that sense
they kind of
break in those stereotypes
and showing
that they can do different things,
not just to be mothers,
but also being being fighters,
being soldiers, doing other things
So in that sense, of course,
that that's a bit of a different
way in how lives of Ukrainian women's
work change.
And then there is the third element
so dimension to that,
and that is, of course,
the women who became direct victims
of Russian
aggression, women who have been killed,
women who have been raped,
women who have been deported to Russia.
They also have been separated
from their families
of those
who have been separated
from their children.
That's another dimension
in how women have.
But women's lives
have changed, of course.
And that is that is a very hard break.
And that probably the most heartbreaking
group of women.
That's very difficult to to even find
words, to express
all feelings.
But I know for sure that we
have to recognize them
their sacrifice and
what they have gone through
and try to remember
this is some sacrifice they made.
Absolutely.
And interestingly,
Russia's war against
Ukraine is also galvanized
support for LGBTQ rights.
You're one of a
number of lawmakers
who has not only supported legislation
to prohibit
hate speech against that community,
but also introduce legislation
to give partnership rights
to same sex couples.
What more can you tell us?
Yes, indeed.
It was yesterday
that I introduced
a bill to the parliament,
and I'm now
talking to attempts to co-sponsor
this bill.
And the bill
was basically allow
for same sex couples
to register their partnerships,
which is for me is a basic human right.
We should not tell other people
whom to lie
and how to organize their lives.
But it's particularly important
at this point of time
because we do have
LGBT people fighting in the Army
and them not being able
to register relations with their partner
has very dire and direct consequences.
In case
something happens to or to LGBT,
a man or woman in the front line
and that they need medical help.
For instance,
their partner would not be able
to make medical decisions
instead of him or her
because
because that would not
be legally possible.
So so we need to make sure
that those who are protecting us
are protected by our society
and by our legislation.
And that is the major
driving force
why we introduce in this legislation now,
because those who are on the frontline
need this protection
And that is why I hope the lawmakers
will understand this.
And despite
there are conservative elements
in the society majority.
56% of Ukrainians actually support
this type of legislation.
And I hope
that this will equally be supported
by the Ukrainian parliament.
And this is exactly the opposite of what
the Russian president Putin would want
in a solution.
Thanks so much for your time.
We really appreciate it.
We wish you all the best.
Thank you so much.