Over 75,000 Women Now Serve in Ukraine’s Armed Forces; Registration Is Mandatory Only in Medicine

On March 8, 2026, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (Zbroini Syly Ukrainy) said in an International Women’s Day message that “more than 75,000 women currently serve in the Ukrainian military, of whom over 55,000 are servicemembers (viiskovosluzhbovytsi).” The Ministry of Defense’s press outlet, ArmiyaInform, reported the remarks.

Under Russia’s full-scale invasion, men aged 18 to 60 face restrictions on leaving the country (see the article on martial law). Women are treated differently. Ukrainian law allows women to serve in the military on the same terms as men, while also providing that women can be called up in wartime only if they themselves wish it. This article looks at the laws and orders that opened military service to women, the shifting rules on mandatory registration, and the figures the Ministry of Defense and others have announced over time, each with its date and source.

The Law Says “On the Same Terms as Men”

The basic law governing military service is “On Military Duty and Military Service” (Про військовий обов’язок і військову службу). Law No. 2523-VIII of September 6, 2018, added the following sentence to Article 1.12.

“Women fulfill their military duty on the same terms as men, except in cases provided for by legislation on the protection of motherhood and childhood, and except for the prohibition of discrimination based on sex. This includes voluntary (contract-based) enlistment and call-up, military service, service in the reserve, fulfilling the reserve military duty, and compliance with military registration rules” (provisional translation for this article).

The title of this law is “On Ensuring Equal Rights and Opportunities for Women and Men in Military Service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Other Military Formations.” It was published in the Verkhovna Rada’s newspaper, Holos Ukrainy, on October 17, 2018, and took effect ten days after publication.

The same Article 1.12 also sets out the conditions for call-up. Under the provisions as of September 2026, women who are registered for military duty can be called up for military service, or assigned to defense-related work, in wartime only “if they volunteer.” In peacetime as well, women may enter military service or the reserve only on a voluntary (contract) basis.

There Was an Order Before the Law, and a Barrier Remained After It

The range of duties women could be assigned to was determined not only by law but by Ministry of Defense orders. Order No. 292 of the Ministry of Defense, June 3, 2016 (registered with the Ministry of Justice on June 22), revised the provisional list of enlisted and non-commissioned positions to include which positions women servicemembers could be appointed to. This order was superseded by Ministry of Defense Order No. 627 of December 13, 2018. The 2016 change was not a legal amendment but a revision of the list by ministry order.

A change in law did not immediately change practice on the ground. Deputy Minister of Defense (State Secretary) Liudmyla Darahan said at an international seminar in Kyiv on September 27, 2024, that although the possibility of women serving in combat roles opened up in 2018, “that possibility remained unrealized for a long time.” According to the Ministry of Defense’s announcement, Darahan explained that a separate “for official use only” order set out officer positions differently for men and women, and that this order was revised in 2022, clearing the obstacle. The same announcement also says that women’s summer uniforms only came into existence in 2023; before that, only ceremonial uniforms had existed.

Mandatory Registration, Rewritten Three Times in Four Years

In Ukraine, people subject to military duty register at the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TCC) for their place of residence. The rules on mandatory registration for women have changed significantly over the past several years.

• 2021: Law No. 1357-IX of March 30, 2021 (effective April 23), amended Article 1.11 to provide that women with a specialty or occupation on a Ministry of Defense list related to military service, and who meet health and age conditions, must register for military duty. The list itself was set by Ministry of Defense Order No. 313 of October 11, 2021, and took effect upon its publication in the official gazette on December 17 of the same year
• September 2022: Ministry of Defense Order No. 35 of February 7, 2022, had set October 1, 2022, as the start date for registering women on the list. The Ministry pushed this back a year, to October 1, 2023, by Order No. 259 of September 6, 2022
• October 2022: Law No. 2664-IX of October 7, 2022, rewrote Article 1.11 to narrow the mandatory group to women who had completed vocational, pre-higher professional, or higher education and obtained a medical or pharmaceutical specialty. Women with other listed specialties or occupations were to register only “if they so wish”
• 2025: Law No. 4197-IX of January 9, 2025, again amended Article 1.11, adding a registration procedure for women wishing to undergo basic military service. The distinction remains: registration is mandatory for women with a medical or pharmaceutical specialty, and voluntary for women with other specialties or occupations on the list

In other words, under the provisions as of September 2026, only women with a medical or pharmaceutical specialty are subject to mandatory registration. And even for those who are registered, wartime call-up applies only if they themselves volunteer.

The Numbers Change Depending on Who Announces Them, and When

The Ministry of Defense has not published a consolidated statistical table on the number of women. What could be confirmed were figures given in remarks or speeches by senior officials.

Three things need care when reading this table.

First is the gap between “total women” and “servicemembers.” Every announcement separates these two figures, and the total is around 20,000 higher. The total includes women who are not servicemembers, but the announcements do not break down who they are.

Second, the figures do not form a single consistent series. The total given as 66,900 for January 2024 became “over 62,000” in the announcement dated March 8 of that same year. Whether this is a difference in how they were counted or in the timing of the statement cannot be determined from the announcements themselves.

Third is the scope of “the front.” The announcements use different terms — “line of contact,” “front line,” “combat areas” — and there is no guarantee they cover the same area.

Even so, every announcement agrees on the direction: the numbers are rising. The June 2024 announcement said the figure was “40% higher than in 2021,” and the March 2025 announcement said it was “20% more than in 2022.” Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi also said in his March 2026 message that five women had received the country’s highest honor, “Hero of Ukraine” (three posthumously), and that 1,705 women servicemembers had received state decorations over the 12 years of war.

Between the Text of the Law and the Numbers

The 2018 law placed women’s military service on the same footing as men’s, while the legal amendments from 2022 onward moved in the direction of narrowing mandatory registration to medical roles. Under the law, the path into the military has opened wide for women, while at the same time, the mechanism for bringing women into the military against their own will has been narrowed. The rise in numbers is happening within this frame of “volunteering.”

Ukraine’s martial law and mobilization system itself are covered in What Ukraine’s Martial Law Stops, and What It Cannot Stop.