Iryna Klochko is a 38-years-old decipherer at "Eyes," a Ukrainian air intelligence unit. Before joining the army, she worked as a television director in Kyiv. Recently Iryna joined the Veteranka Movement to be part of a community of like-minded people and benefit from its services. With support from UN Women, the Veteranka Movement advocates for the rights of women in the army, and offers female military personnel psychological, rehabilitation, reintegration and educational support.

Viktoria Nazarenko is the Secretary General of the National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine (NAPD), an association of more than 100 organizations representing people with disabilities from different regions of Ukraine. NAPD works with various UN agencies, including UN Women, to include people with disabilities in humanitarian assistance and advocate for their rights.

Nataliia Onipko is the Founder and President of the Zaporuka Foundation that helps children with cancer and their families. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Foundation has expanded its operations to provide humanitarian assistance to vulnerable internally displaced people, including women, and their host communities.

Alisa Shramko, a 31-year-old mother of two, is a paramedic instructor at the Fastiv Voluntary Formation of the Kyiv Region. She is also a substitute instructor at Hospitallers Medical Battalion, a Ukrainian voluntary organization of paramedics who volunteered to provide first aid and evacuate wounded Ukrainian soldiers.

Like millions of Ukrainian women, Maryna Kuznetsova lost her job after Russia’s full-scale invasion. In fact, 39 per cent of Ukrainians who were employed before the war lost the opportunity to support themselves financially.

Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Julia Kononchuk was studying at the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University. She won a scholarship to study in Great Britain and was supposed to begin university there in the fall of 2022, but her visa was not granted in time.

Women and marginalized groups have key role to play in leading decision making on Ukraine’s recovery, which should help build the country back better and more equal. This was the main message of representatives of the Ukrainian government, women rights organizations, civil society, and the private sector that convened at gender responsive event held ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference.

Ganna Suvorkina is a Ukrainian clothing designer who gave up working with famous brands and designers to sew uniforms for Ukrainian military servicewomen. What started for her as volunteering and the desire to work towards a common cause led her to rethink and pursue new challenges in her career.

Due to the war, Valentina Nalyvaiko has had to leave her home in Ukraine twice – first within the country following the 2014 invasion and then again after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. She’s had to start her life over again from scratch twice, most recently in the United Kingdom (UK).

The Women’s Peace & Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) has launched a Call for Proposals in Ukraine to support civil society organizations working to increase women’s participation in humanitarian and crisis response and enhance the protection of women and girls displaced by the war in the Ukraine.

Diana Andrunyk is a social photographer and photojournalist who has been working in artistic and advertising photography for 11 years. She has been working with Veteranka, the Women Veteran Movement, since 2021 on several projects together with military personnel. One of them is "A woman warrior is first and foremost a woman.” Five months after the full-scale Russian invasion, Andrunyk was forced to leave Ukraine and move to the United Kingdom (UK) for the safety of her family.

Veronika Lytvynenko is a volunteer and graphic designer for the Ukrainian Women Veteran Movement. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine found her in Kyiv, and her entire family in Mariupol.

Julia Pysmenna is the founder of the online platform taker | maker, a web-service that brings together different professionals offering digital content creation on demand for small and medium-sized businesses. Based in Ukraine, the company helps its customers to create photos, videos, text and design for social media, blogs and websites through a database of over 120 high-quality content creators, as well as digital marketers, social media marketing managers and content producers. Pysmenna is one of the women entrepreneurs that have been selected to participate in the Women’s Entrepreneurship EXPO mentorship programme.

Gandzia Morozova is a casting manager and film director from Kyiv. Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Morozova became the head of the Ukrainian Women Veteran Movement, known as VETERANKA, which delivers humanitarian aid to de-occupied territories and war hot spots. Since 24 February 2022, the organization has strengthened its focus on humanitarian assistance and started a series of psychological support sessions with support from UN Women, under the project “Transformative approaches to achieve gender equality in Ukraine,”supported by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine and funded by the Government of Sweden.

Ukrainian women-led civil society organizations were among the first to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. In partnership with UN Women, they continue to play a leading role, which is key for the post-war recovery.

Yuliia Kirillova is a woman veteran who, after returning from the war, was able to successfully adapt to the new reality, find herself and support the others. At the age of 28, she became a teacher in the university and fights for women's rights in the army and beyond.

On March 7, the Ukrainian Institute and UN Women Ukraine will name the winners of the Women in Arts award for the fourth time. The ceremony will also feature the premiere of a women's manifesto created in collaboration with the MEGOGO LIVE music channel.

Olesya Bozhko is the head of "Space of Knowledge", a Ukrainian NGO helping children to receive high-quality free education and supporting women educators who lost their jobs due to the war. Bozhko is one of 17 women activists and civil society organizations (CSO) representatives working with vulnerable women’s groups, who participated in UN Women’s She Media School, a capacity building project aimed at improving women’s representation in the media. As the war in Ukraine reaches its one-year anniversary, it is essential to highlight women’s voices, particularly of those working to uphold women’s rights.

Since the launch of the Russian Federation full-scale invasion on 24 February, 2022, over 2,000 women have been confirmed dead in attacks that have wrecked homes and civilian structures across Ukraine. Total numbers are likely to be much higher: according to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, women account for nearly 40 per cent of the over 21,000 civilian casualties recorded in 2022. And of the estimated 7.9 million internally displaced peoples in Ukraine, women now constitute at least 90 per cent.

We pay tribute to the exceptional dignity, resilience, leadership and courage of Ukrainian women and girls who continue to pay an enormous price for this severe violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, including multiple forms of violence targeting women. We condemn these violations, for which survivors are owed, and the world demands, full accountability.