Mobilization of women in Ukraine: National Guard commander says there is no such need

Oleksandr Pivnenko (Photo: Military leader's Facebook) There is currently no need to mobilize women into the Ukrainian army, said National Guard commander Major General Oleksandr Pivnenko. He said this in an interview with LB.ua. Read also Market of fear. How lawyers profit from mobilization "Why would we [mobilize] women? Do we have too few women fighting already?" Pivnenko said. He noted that women serve not only as drone operators but also as medics, which is extremely important. Speaking about women in service, the commander also cited the example of machine gunner Oleksandra ("Vyrva") Davydenko. In March 2026, the servicewoman received the title of Hero of Ukraine, becoming the first woman in the National Guard to be awarded the country's highest state honor. "[This is] a girl who was at the positions, she has already suffered numerous concussions," Pivnenko noted. He remarked that the situation "is not so critical that there's a shortage of men," to the point of filling positions in the army with women. Under martial law in Ukraine, men aged 25-60 are mobilized unless they have a deferment or exemption. Men outside this age category, as well as women, can join the service voluntarily. The debate over the mobilization of women in Ukraine intensified in the second half of August. In particular, former Defense Minister Reznikov supported drafting women into the army, citing Israel's example and adding that they could perform tasks away from the front line. Trump's former Ukraine envoy Kellogg also spoke in favor of mobilizing women. As an example, he cited the service of his wife and daughter in the US army. However, the Verkhovna Rada reported that no bills have been registered in Ukraine on the mobilization of women. This is a machine translation of the original article in Ukrainian. It may contain errors.