The six women in fatigues sitting around a well-appointed brunch table in suburban Washington give an impression of sincerity and sacrifice. Members of the Ukraine Women’s Veterans Movement, they were in Washington, DC, from Oct. 7-12, to promote their new report, Invisible Battalion 2.0, a national survey of the status of Ukraine’s women veterans. They also screened their documentary Invisible Battalion, which chronicles six women serving on the Donbas front in 2014-2015, combating Russia’s military and its proxy fighters. They served as snipers, medics, and shock troopers at a time when the Ukrainian military, gutted by corruption, had little capacity to fight. They tell their stories simply—why they fought, their position, and the impact their service had on themselves and their families. Reading between the lines, they are haunted by lost comrades, the impenetrable void between those that have served and those at home, and the deeply rooted discrimination women combatants face.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
OP-ED
Lauren Van Metre, Steven Steiner: Invisible in an invisible war
Soldiers march along Khreshchatyk Street in Kyiv on Aug. 24, 2018, taking part in the parade to mark Ukraine's 27th Independence Day.
