As war draws men to fight, Ukraine's women take tough new jobs in machinery and mines

DNIPROPETROVSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Kateryna Koliadiuk was curious. The 19-year-old Ukrainian agronomy student spotted an ad seeking women to enroll in a tractor driving course and decided to try. But the industrial vehicle was huge and complex, and she wasn’t sure she could operate it.

“In the beginning I was so scared. In the beginning I couldn’t do this,” she said. She now drives with authority, her manicured fingers resting at the wheel.

From driving tractors to working in coal mines, Ukrainian women are taking jobs once reserved for men, who are being drafted to the front lines in the war with Russia. Women have also signed up to join the armed forces at a higher rate.

Koliadiuk said her family was shocked. “We were told that women should be in the kitchen, at home with children. That is why to go and study such equipment was so scary,” she said. “But then we took care of ourselves.”

It’s part of a crucial government effort to grow an economy devastated by three years of war and address labor shortages created by the mobilization, according to the economy ministry, which leads training programs in construction, agriculture and transport geared toward women.

“Ukrainian women are under a lot of pressure because their men are on the front line," Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in an interview with The Associated Press. “When the man is mobilized, the woman is mobilized with him as well."

Businesses want to hire again after the initial economic shock of Russia’s full-scale invasion, but the labor force has shrunk. About 5 million Ukrainians left the country and are abroad, the minister said, and another million are serving in the armed forces. That's a lot considering about 9 million Ukrainians are currently employed, she added.

Svyrydenko is Ukraine’s first female economy minister and a symbol of the rise of women in the labor force because of the war.

Before, women were mostly employed in education and health care, social protection and government service, she said. Now there's demand in the industrial and military areas.

“It is the mindset of both women and employers that is changing,” she said. “Employers are ready to take women on the job more often, and women are ready to diversify their skills.”

In coal mines in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, women are now hired to operate machinery to keep production going. There and elsewhere, men still dominate jobs that require heavy physical labor.

Former accountant Iryna Ostanko, 37, was looking for a new job and decided to become an elevator operator at a mine in the Dnipropetrovsk region. She was inspired by her husband, who has worked at the mine for 15 years. He supported her decision.

“Before, in this place underground, there were no women at all," she said. “Women appeared here after the start of the full-scale invasion when a lot of men left to defend our country.”

Ostanko had never descended to the mine's depths of 260 meters (yards). Her training involved one month of theory and another of hands-on training.

“War is making changes, always making changes,” said Viktor Kuznetsov, the mine's head engineer.

He said the lack of qualified personnel is the main challenge, as many male workers left to join the fight. He has hired over 100 women since Russia's full-scale invasion, a drastic change.

Without them, the mine could not function, he said.

In Kyiv region, Yulia Skitchko watched new female trainees operate excavators, her high-heeled black leather boots caked in mud.

She is the head of Alef Stroy, a construction machinery rental service. For years, she had dreamed of hiring more women. The war gave her that chance, and U.S. funding gave her the ability to train female hires. They have trained 45 women so far.

“We were told that we are crazy people, this is not possible. Women? Excavator? They will never do this,” she said. “These days, our first women who graduated from this course already have jobs and started working on building construction sites.”

Modern building equipment is easier to operate, she said, and the idea that women can't do it is a gender stereotype.

“This war has changed our women mentally, and they want to contribute to Ukraine’s rebuilding," Skitchko said. "We need to give them an opportunity to learn.”

Associated Press journalist Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report.

FILE - Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's Minister of Economy answers on journalists questions during an interview with the Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, file)

Iryna Ostanko, 37, poses for photo with her husband in tunnel of a coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Miners wait for elevator in the tunnel of a coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Women work in a tunnel of a coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Oksana Polischuk, 51, teaches modern dance at choreography school in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2025. Originally from Bakhmut, Polischuk, lost her husband on a war, she became an IDP in Poland. She decided to return to Ukraine and be useful for her country working on a coal mine underground. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this image taken from video, a woman operates an excavator during construction work in Nemishaieve, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Vasilisa Stepanenko)

In this image taken from video, women operate excavators during construction work in Nemishaieve, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Vasilisa Stepanenko)

A woman picks up a phone at her work position in a tunnel of a coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A sign reading "horizon 265 meters underground" hangs in the tunnel of a coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Iryna Ostanko, 37, center, walks in the tunnel of a coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this image taken from video, student Kateryna Koliadiuk drives a tractor in Nemishaieve, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Vasilisa Stepanenko)

Oksana Polischuk, 51, descendes by lift into a coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Jan. 30, 2025. Polischuk, lost her husband on a war, she became an IDP in Poland. She decided to return to Ukraine and be useful for her country working on a coal mine underground. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

BEIJING (AP) — Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.

Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports to Canada, growing to 70,000 over five years. China will reduce its tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from about 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.

“It has been a historic and productive two days,” Carney said, speaking outside against the backdrop of a traditional pavilion and a frozen pond at a Beijing park. “We have to understand the differences between Canada and other countries, and focus our efforts to work together where we’re aligned.”

Earlier Friday, he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.

Xi told Carney in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.

“It can be said that our meeting last year opened a new chapter in turning China–Canada relations toward improvement,” China's top leader said.

Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, said better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as “under great strain.”

He called for a new relationship “adapted to new global realities” and cooperation in agriculture, energy and finance.

Those new realities reflect in large part the so-called America-first approach of U.S. President Donald Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called “a time of global trade disruption.”

A Canadian business owner in China called Carney's visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.

“These three things we didn’t have,” said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. “The parties were not talking for years.”

Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor.

China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China's imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.

China is hoping Trump’s pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America's 51st state.

Carney departs China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.

Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, center, arrives to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)