Diary of a Female Soldier (entry four): International Women's Day

8 March: Nia - a Belarusian lawyer turned Ukrainian soldier - writes about why she chose to become a drone pilot and about how reality has changed the attitude to women in Ukraine's army.

by NIA

Today marks four years since I arrived in Ukraine.
I came here and never truly managed to leave. I fell in love. With the people. With their stubborn strength. With their fierce, almost defiant desire to live on their own terms.
At first, I volunteered. Later, I joined the army.
I didn’t want a distant role. I wanted to be at the tactical level, on the ground, here and now, carrying out missions - and feeling that something I do in this moment can actually change something.

War has little patience for long-term plans.
You can strategize for years, but geopolitical decisions made thousands of kilometers away can erase those plans in a single day. In war, especially in Ukraine, the future is fragile. What matters most is the next task, the next decision, the next hour.

That is why the tactical level is where I feel the most free.
Looking at my resume, many suggested staff positions. Strategy, analysis, coordination. They saw experience, skills, a different path for me.

But I had already lived that life. So I chose something else. I became a fixed-wing drone pilot. Reconnaissance. Being the eyes for strike teams and artillery. Watching enemy movement. Coordinating fire.
Without us, their strikes would not be precise. Without us, the infantry moves into danger almost blind. We stay in the air longer. We keep watching.

The enemy knows this. They try to detect us. They try to shoot us down. They understand perfectly well how dangerous we are even when we are not firing anything ourselves.
If they find our position, they won’t hesitate. Everything will start flying toward our dugout.
Everything. And very deliberately.
So the work of a fixed-wing drone operator is not only technical. It is also a quiet, constant negotiation with fear.

But something else has changed during these four years. Ukraine itself has changed.

There has been a real shift in how women are seen, and how women serve, in the army.
More and more rarely do I hear the old questions:
“Why didn’t you stay in Europe?”
“What about having children?”
“A woman’s place is in the kitchen.”

Those attitudes haven’t disappeared completely.
But they are fading. Reality has replaced them.

Today I am lucky enough to serve in a crew where trust is absolute. No sexist jokes. No condescension. Only professionalism.
I work alongside the person I love, someone who teaches me, challenges me, and learns with me at the same time.

We are volunteers. We are professionals. And we know exactly why we are here.
His support, and the ability to work together, gives me small, quiet moments of happiness even when the country stands on the edge, living through the hardest phase of war.

And today is March 8. Around the world, people speak about women’s rights, equality, freedom. For me, equality is not an abstract idea.

My manifesto is very simple:
To be here.
To serve.
To stand shoulder to shoulder with others in defending Ukraine’s freedom.
On equal terms.

NIA is a Ukrainian service woman of Belarusian origin who left her comfortable life as a corporate lawyer to go to fight for freedom in Ukraine. “I serve in a war where real life doesn’t stop. I work with drones and write about what remains human when everything else becomes operational.”