With Russia’s war on Ukraine now in its 17th month, a survival skills course -- including how to shoot weapons -- opened for civilians in Kyiv. Of the 2,000 people who signed up, nearly 70 percent are women who are determined to protect not only themselves but their children.
Under The Gun: Civilian Women In Ukraine Train For War
Two women with mock AK-47 rifles learn how to shoot during a training course in Kyiv on July 11. Authorities in the nation's capital are offering survival skills for civilians, including how to shoot weapons, provide first aid, and recognize land mines.
Participants listen to an instructor during firearms training for civilians.
According to Mykhaylo Shcherbyna, the deputy director for municipal security in Kyiv, more than 2,000 people registered for training that took place on July 11, with 70 percent of them being women.
An instructor adjusts the posture of a woman holding a mock AK-47 rifle during firearms training.
“The main goal is for people to learn how to survive and how to respond to these military threats that exist,” Shcherbyna explained. By educating people, local authorities are hoping to prevent more casualties in the future.
Participants watch as an instructor takes aim at a screen with a mock AK-47 rifle.
Shcherbyna says the reason most of those who signed up for the training are women is because a large number of men are already at the front.
“I am more than 45 years old. As soon as the opportunity arose, I decided that I needed to refresh some skills and learn something new,” said Kyiv resident Lada Bondarenko (center). She was especially impressed by the instructor’s lecture on possible land mine threats.
Instructor Oleksiy Ogirenko shows Iryna Chudna how to aim a rifle during firearms training.
Ogirenko teaches Viktoria Ludchak how to handle her weapon as other participants watch.
Although Kyiv is not currently on the front lines of the war, the risk of mines left behind by the Russians, who briefly occupied areas on the outskirts of the capital in the early days of the war, still persists. According to the Internal Affairs Ministry, around 451,000 square kilometers of Ukraine are potentially contaminated with mines, about the size of the U.S. state of Florida.
According to Shcherbyna, last year they taught about 15,000 people, and approximately 3,000 of them joined the army. “The war continues, and we don’t know what the next threats will be,” he said.