Iryna Kleymenova, a mother of two from Lviv did not have any military training or experience. She has quite a peaceful disposition. Although now she says she is overfilled with anger. Her occupation is peaceful, too: a certified psychologist, she is an HR business partner and had a contract with a large U.S.-based IT company before the full-scale war began.
On Feb. 24, Iryna arrived at the “viyskkomat” (military registration and enrolment office) as soon as two hours after she heard about Russia’s air strikes on Ukrainian cities. She was turned down, so she came again and then again, invoking the last-year Defense Ministry order that had allowed the enlistment of female psychologists and explaining that she had prepared herself for war in terms of firearm handling and premedical first aid training. And in three days, the viyskkomat surrendered to her vim.
Iryna and her husband had long agreed that it would rather be she who would go to war in case of a full-scale invasion, as the husband has problems with blood pressure and severe allergy. Iryna’s seven-year daughter is missing her mommy, and her 12-year-old adopted son watches TV news and worries about her. In the beginning, they kept in touch through video calls but now it is complicated as there is no connection in the area where Iryna currently is.
She thinks she has lost 25 kilograms, which makes her life easier at the line of contact in Kharkiv Oblast. And she says that she will probably need to speak with other psychologists when the war is over.
Ukrainian victory is what she wants most, and as soon as possible. After that, she is planning to take her children to Mariupol, Irpin, Bucha, Kharkiv, and other cities to show them what happens when a country does not prepare itself for a war.
“This war lasts for some 300 years. I think we need at last to finish the enemy,” Iryna says.
Before the full-scale invasion, 57,000 women accounted for 22% of the total personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including 32,000 doing their military service. After the invasion, many more women joined territorial defense and other Ukrainian forces.
