As part of the International Day Against Violence Against Women, the Occitanie Pyrénées-Méditionranée Region and the Rivesaltes Memorial with the Young People and Citizens project invited high school students to participate in the conference “Being a woman in times of war: between forgetting, contempt and combat.” Khrystyna Zamula intervened. She serves as deputy head of the Lviv State Regional Military Administration in Ukraine. Since March 2024, its role has been to ensure the development of the region and the implementation of government policy in the oblast. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, she carried the voices of women in times of conflict.
Khrystyna Zamula, why speak publicly in Europe about the condition of women and their place in armed conflicts?
I have a lot to tell. For ten years and more intensely in the last three years with Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war has caused upheaval in the lives of women. Particularly on their quest for equal rights with men. I am like all these women who lead an active life in Ukraine, fighters and rebels. In a state of war, it is difficult to speak of equality because the main thing for us remains the chance to be able to live, to survive.
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War in Ukraine: a head of the Ukrainian military administration in the Pyrénées-Orientales to raise the voice of women in times of conflict
“Violence against women will not be forgotten, the criminals will be brought to justice”
What do you want to denounce about this violence of which women are victims?
In June 2022 in Lviv, more than 600,000 people were welcomed, including women, children and people with disabilities. Many of these women, who are waiting for the return of their husbands who left for the front, were raped in Boutcha, Irpin, lost their loved ones, and were hit by cruise missiles. On September 4, Lviv was attacked by Russian missiles. A mother and her three children were discovered dead under the rubble. At the same time, a doctor was imprisoned pregnant by the Russians. Fortunately, she was released in a prisoner exchange. I can also talk about this couple who adopt children. They have the courage to want to raise children who are not theirs when, at the same time, one of their biological sons dies at the front. Or even this woman near a train who was asked what she was leaving with: she only showed us her baby in her arms.
The problem of mental health is becoming more and more serious
Given what they suffer in times of war, are women the first victims as well as the forgotten ones?
Since 2014, women have not been forgotten, that’s for sure. The violence committed against them will not be forgotten, the criminals will be brought to justice. And the problem of mental health is increasingly serious. Every day, women live with deaths in their families, injuries, their homes falling into ruin or having no electricity or heating. This is why, at the initiative of the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky, there is a program that could be translated as “How are you” to talk about trauma. In addition, teachers are trained to react in time if they detect discomfort in their students. Or, in each hospital, there is a psychological rehabilitation center to support those suffering from mental disorders.
The war increased the gap in the professional world between men and women
Are women investing in the economy or industry to overcome trauma and continue to keep Ukraine alive?
As men are at the front, women take initiatives, such as strengthening the country’s economy. 15% of them are engaged in combat. Others volunteer at the front. And on top of all this, they give birth to children, educate them, worry about their loved ones. This is why some have also decided to rebuild their lives abroad, without resources or papers. Their situation is becoming more and more complicated. Women must fight for their rights. You know, the war increased the gap in the professional world between men and women. When it comes to responsibilities, when a woman is alone in front of men, she must act more rigorously and make herself heard louder. It is an additional responsibility towards other women at the risk of increasing their discredit.
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What glimmer of hope still animates women in Ukraine?
Every day when she wakes up, the best hope for a woman is to know that those around her are alive.
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