Legend of Sister's Power fundraiser game raises UAH 5.8 million for women soldiers

The VETERANKA movement and the Women's March announced the results of the first ever fundraiser game Legend of Sisterʼs Power, which was opened to meet the needs of servicewomen in the Ukrainian combat zone.

In three weeks, instead of the planned UAH 3 million [about US$82,500], the fundraiser collected UAH 5.8 million [about US$159,000], as the Female Veteran’s Movement reported to UP. Zhyttia.

The money raised will buy 1,200 women's military boots, three cars, five night vision devices and seven DJI Mavic drones.

"The rules of the game of the sisterhood fundraiser were based on the code of female solidarity in order to provide the female defenders of Ukraine from the rear and thank them for their service. The winner in this game is a female defender who defends the country on the front line the same as men," the initiators say.

More than 90 female ambassadors and thousands of Ukrainian women around the world took part in the project, collecting donations from UAH 10,000 [roughly US$275] to 384,000 [about US$10,500] on each separate account.

"According to official data of the Ministry of Defence, more than 5,000 servicewomen now serve on the front line – unfortunately, their needs are still provided for mostly by volunteers. Therefore, our task was to make a creative fundraiser to once again emphasise: the basic needs of women in the army are different from men's.

For example, smaller military boots. At the same time, requests for cars for paramedics and snipers, drones for aerial scouts, night vision devices all show gender equality amongst the soldiers," explains Kateryna Prymak, co-founder of the VETERANKA movement.

Initially, the initiators of the fundraiser game planned to attract 30 ambassadors, but subsequently the number of applicants increased to 91.

Among the famous Ukrainian women who became ambassadors of the gathering game are editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda Sevgil Musaieva, writers Oksana Zabuzhko and Irena Karpa, TV presenters Yanina Sokolova and Kateryna Soliar, actress Irma Vitovska, singer Kateryna Pavlenko (Go_A band) and others.

Among the ambassadors of the fundraiser were also female soldiers: Andriana Arekhta, weapons operator and head of the Veteranka movement, paramedic Oksana Mishina, aerial scout Iryna Terekhovych and the mother of a female combat doctor.

Earlier, the first body armour designed for women, which takes the shape of the female body into account and weighs less than a standard men's armoured suit, was presented in Kyiv.

In addition, the Armed Forces of Ukraine approved the summer field military uniform for women for the first time in history. It was placed on production for female military personnel.

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