"A woman must be self-sufficient and rely primarily on herself" - paramedic Yevheniya Kolesnichenko

Yevheniya Kolesnichenko is 35 years old, and she has been at war for over a year now. The woman had been eyeing military service even before the full-scale invasion. Specifically, she wanted to join the "Hospitaliers" battalion of paramedics. "Hospitaliers" is a volunteer organization of paramedics founded by Yana Zinkevych at the beginning of the hostilities in Ukraine in 2014.

When the Russians began a full-scale war in February 2022, Yevheniya and her husband decided that only one of them would go to war. Her husband, Yevhen, went to war, while Yevheniya took their children to Poland for some time. The Kolesnichenko family has three children together. Their daughter Anna is almost 14, and their twin sons Matviy and Andriy will soon be 11 years old.

However, in November 2022, Yevhen was killed by a mine explosion near Bakhmut. Yevheniya returned from Poland with her children. She decided to join the military service. She already had a military uniform and thermo underwear in her size.

"For me, it was a moment of truth. I realized that I also had to join the military, but as a paramedic. My husband did not receive proper medical support after being injured. Therefore, I decided that my task is to save soldiers, that there would be a few less women like me, widows," explains the woman.

Therefore, Yevheniya joined the "Hospitaliers" in December 2022. Meanwhile, the children stayed with her sister in Kyiv.

Within two months, Yevheniya underwent the necessary training, and in February 2023, she embarked on her first rotation with the "Hospitaliers." She spent nine months with the "Hospitaliers" before joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"With the 'Hospitaliers,' everything was quite flexible: you were a free bird, able to return from rotation to the battalion or not. But with a contract with the Armed Forces, you're completely subject to the army. You can't say, 'My child is sick, I'm going home.' However, the army gives me a reliable status and assurance that the state will take care of my children if something happens to me," explains the combatant.

Currently, Yevheniya serves in the 5th Kyiv Brigade, rescuing the wounded at a stabilization point. The woman admits that she is not afraid of torn abdomens or bullet-riddled heads. She has already developed a protocol for what needs to be done. Her task is to stabilize the wound and pass the injured soldier on to others alive.

"I try not to find out what happened to the soldiers I stabilized afterward. That's the job of other medics. Because if you emotionally immerse yourself in every case, you can burn out very quickly," explains the woman.

Yevheniya is not the only woman in her battalion. According to her, there are fewer women than men in combat positions. However, gradually, the army is getting used to the fact that women also serve.

"There are certain things that women need to take care of in advance. For example, finding a uniform and a bulletproof vest of the right size, because usually the army doesn't issue them. Also, you need to be prepared for difficult living conditions. In particular, you need to think about what to do when you have your period and what you will do to be comfortable," explains the paramedic.

Yevheniya advises women to have close friends and a favorite activity that can support them if something happens to their husbands.

"I'm currently joining several chats where widows of soldiers gather. And I observe that many women don't know how to live after their husband dies in the war. They lived with their parents all their lives, then with their husbands. So, to prevent this from happening, you need to be self-sufficient and rely primarily on yourself," concludes our heroine.