"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
23 Dec 2022
It's been ten months since the Russia - Ukraine war broke out and finally, the women in the Ukrainian army have a reason to smile. Since the war started, tens of thousands of women in the Ukrainian armed forces have been wearing men’s army uniforms due to the unavailability of women’s uniforms.
Now, this is going to change, as some volunteers have taken it upon themselves to design and stitch military clothing for women. Yulia Mykytenko, 27, an army woman, said that finding the right uniform for women has always been challenging. Some women have wide hips while others have narrow chests and one just cannot loosen up uniforms in the armed forces.
Mykytenko adds that if one gets a size 44, it will stay good on the hips, but will be too large for the shoulders. She joined the armed forces even before Russia invaded Ukraine and has been facing issues with her uniform. She revealed that her waist being thinner, she had to wear the trousers on her hips or get a bigger size and gather and tie them in with a belt, so they wouldn’t hang or fall off.
There’s good news now as Stanyslav Bitus, a fashion designer, has volunteered to design and stitch army uniforms for women. He said that he had it in his mind for a long time to design female military uniforms but didn’t have anywhere to do it. On a friend’s suggestion, he started using the premises of a non-governmental organization and continues to produce the perfect military uniforms for women.