Vice PM: 17,000 female soldiers serve in Ukrainian Armed Forces

Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsyntsadze said this at a round table meeting in Kyiv, Ukrinform news agency reports.

“17,000 currently serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this is about 8.5% of a general number of personnel,” she said.

However, as noted by the Vice Prime Minister, only 231 female soldiers have the officer rank.

The official cited the example of Germany, where the number of women in the armed forces is about the same as in Ukraine (9%), but there are 2,600 female officers there.

Klympush-Tsyntsadze also noted that 1,300 women had joined the Ukrainian army since the onset of the armed hostilities in eastern Ukraine, showing women’s readiness for military service.

 “We need to continue working to find ways to ensure gender equality in the field of security and defense,” the Vice Prime Minister said.