MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. More than 70,000 women serve in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces, but only about 6,000 are deployed directly on the front line, a pro-Russian underground source told TASS.
"In recent weeks, the presence of women among the opposing forces has been recorded in the Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye directions; earlier, such cases were also reported in the Kherson area. According to our estimates, between 500 and 1,000 women are currently performing various combat tasks in these sectors. Overall, as many as about 6,000 women are on the front line, while their total number in the Ukrainian armed forces exceeds 70,000," the source said.
He added that both the number and proportion of women in the Ukrainian military are steadily increasing. "This is explained not by gender equality policies, but by an acute personnel shortage at all levels - both in rear positions and on the line of contact," the source said.
Earlier, TASS reported, citing security agencies, that female Ukrainian service members were being assigned to mechanized units of the Ukrainian armed forces.