The 'feminine face' of Ukrainian resistance, at home and here in France

Women are playing a key role within the resistance movement in Ukraine. And here in France, the small but highly mobilised Ukrainian diaspora is welcoming some of the 5,000 refugees that have arrived so far. Louba Lesyshyn, mother of two, has found refuge with her cousin near Paris. But she has divided loyalties. 

Some two million people have fled the war in Ukraine and the vast majority have found refuge in neighbouring countries. Most are women with children.

But women are also playing an important role in the Ukrainian resistance on the ground.

Some are fighting on the front line, helping with administration, dealing with the injured or distributing humanitarian aid and medecine. Others ensuring their children's safety, taking them to underground shelters each day.

Their efforts prompted President Volodymyr Zelensky's wife, Olena Zelenska, to post on instagram: "Our current resistance has a particularly feminine face."

Here in France, the Ukrainian community in France is small – just 18,000 people have settled status – but a similar spirit of resistance prevails.

Sofyia Melnyk arrived in France aged seven. The 23-year-old law student has pushed the furniture in the small flat she shares with her parents and sister in the Paris suburbs to make space for her cousin Louba Lesyshyn and her two children. 

Ukrainian TV is on round the clock in Melnyk's living room, while a pan of meat soup simmers on the stove.

"It's a typical Ukrainian soup," says Lesyshyn. "It's for for the children, it reassures them, and reminds them of their country." 

Lesyshyn left the town of Kolomiya in Ukraine and travelled 43 hours by car via Poland to reach Paris. Her priority was to take the children to safety, but she admits she would have preferred to stay.

"I didn't want to leave Ukraine but my family told me to think of the children, and protect them. Of course I had to. But it was complicated for me. Like most women, I had to leave."

Were it not for the kids, she says she " would have stayed in Ukraine and taken up arms".

A history of resistance

Lesyshyn, 38, says that since the Maidan revolution in 2014 that toppled Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich, women have shown their patriotism. 

"The Maidan revolution was a turning point for women. They played a crucial role in the resistance. They affirmed their power and proved they could fight like men," she says.

"What's happening now is just the continuity of Maidan and as a woman I'm a product of that."

Melnyk is also full of praise for the women who've stayed in Ukraine to continue the war effort.

She cites "seamstresses who're making flack jackets and cagoules. Even if they're not on the frontline women are very much there behind the scenes so that the men can hold on for longer."

Resisting oppression runs in the family.
"During the Second World War my grandmother drove a taxi, she fought with the Ukrainian army, she was very strong and determined," Melnyk says.

Her mother, a trained nurse, wants to continue the family tradition and intends to leave for Ukraine to help her fellow citizens in need.

A large blue and yellow Ukrainian flag is draped over the coat stand – a daily reminder of home.