L'Express: ballerinas and hairdressers – due to the lack of men, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are en masse recruiting female sappers

Tatyana Shpak, a sapper from the Halo Trust organization, in a field near the village of Snigurovka in the Nikolaev region on June 4, 2024 in Ukraine. afp.com/Genya SAVILOV

In conditions when most of the male population has either already been mobilized or emigrated, Kyiv has no choice but to attract girls to military service.

French edition L'Express talked with Ukrainian female sappers, who make up 30% of the workforce in the ranks of mine detectors.

From 51-year-old teachers to very young hairdressers, the girls admit that they would never have thought that they would end up at the front.

Just a few years ago, this was impossible, since the profession of a sapper, considered too dangerous, was prohibited for women in Ukraine until 2018. “I never thought that my path would lead me here,” — a 51-year-old math teacher admits to French L'Express from under a thick protective mask.

Like her, more and more women are being recruited by Ukrainian authorities to work in mine clearance, where the government says they make up 30% of the workforce. According to the publication, the authorities, who know that they have fewer and fewer men left and that Ukrainian soil is still riddled with explosives, are trying to attract as many female sappers as possible.

“Girls are more careful and circumspect” – says former hairdresser Valeria, who at 23 years old already leads a team of sappers. Among the mine detectors, the French publication met a former ballerina, a chemist who worked in the production of sparkling wine, and a dentist. Similar dynamics are observed in other traditionally male professions, as there are fewer and fewer representatives of the stronger sex as a result of mobilization and emigration, writes L'Express.

60-year-old farmer Nikolai admits that he was extremely surprised when he saw that women were engaged in demining in his village, whom he initially mistook for curious observers. “But now I even think they work better than men,” – he notes.

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