Women in the Ukrainian army: what are the realities of service

In 2015, US Secretary of Defense Ashley Carter signed a decree allowing women to hold any position in the military hierarchy, including service at the front and in special units.

In the United States, women have been allowed to serve in the military since 1991, but with restrictions. For example, they had the right to participate in ground operations, but without direct contact with the enemy. American women fought for a long time for the right to serve on an equal footing with men, including in the flashpoints, and 6 years ago, they achieved the result. Female soldiers were allowed to steer tanks, fire mortars, and command soldiers on the battlefield; serve in rangers, "green berets," "seals," in the Marines, and airborne troops.

In Ukraine, legislators have legalized equality in the Armed Forces of Ukraine for women and men 3 years later, in 2018. Women are enlisted in the army voluntarily (under contract) and called up for national service in the military reserve, and obligated to perform military service in reserve and follow the rules of military enlistment on an equal footing with men. In October 2018, for the first time, Poroshenko conferred the rank of Major General to a Ukrainian woman, the head of the Military Medical Department of the Security Service of Ukraine Liudmila Shuhalei. Two years later, in 2020, the rank of general was conferred to another woman in Ukraine, Yulia Laputina. In both cases, the presidents' decisions were called political and demonstrative. Sometimes you can hear that some women in the Ukrainian army are there for "dynastic" reasons or, for instance, to find a husband. So is there actual equality in the Ukrainian army?