Ukrainian women embrace combat roles as technology reshapes the battlefield

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — When Russia’s full-scale invasion began nearly four years ago, a 26-year-old soldier known as Monka didn’t see a combat role she could do. But that changed as technology reshaped the battlefield and opened new paths.

Last year, she joined the military as a pilot of short-range, first-person view, or FPV, drones after giving up a job managing a restaurant abroad and returning home to Ukraine to serve.

Her shift is part of a larger trend of more women joining Ukraine's military in combat roles, a change made possible by the technological transformation of modern warfare, military officials say.

“The fact that technology lets us deliver ammunition without carrying it in our hands or running it to the front line — that’s incredible,” said Monka, who serves in the Unmanned Systems Battalion of the Third Army Corps. She and other women followed Ukraine’s military protocol by identifying themselves using only their call signs.

More than 70,000 women served in Ukraine's military in 2025, a 20% increase compared with 2022, including over 5,500 deployed directly on the front line, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.

Some units have tailored recruitment efforts toward women, expanding rosters in a sign that Ukraine is looking to strengthen and expand its army even as peace negotiations weigh a possible cap on the future size of the military.

Leaders in the capital Kyiv, as well as many soldiers like Monka, see the army as one of the few security guarantees that Ukraine has against Russia.

“We need everyone — engineers, pilots, IT specialists, programmers, we simply need brains. It’s not about men or women. We need people who are ready to work hard,” she said.

A drone pilot is one of the Ukrainian military's most popular combat professions chosen by women, military officials said.

When Imla from the Kraken 1654 unit left her career as a professional hockey player to join the military, the 27-year-old initially planned to become a combat paramedic.

She spent her first six months as a platoon medic, but the job required learning to fly drones. She started with small ones before moving to larger models carrying bombs and eventually switching to full-time drone work.

Imla clearly remembers her first drone flight, a reconnaissance mission. When they handed her the controller, she was so nervous her hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

“To be honest, I even wanted to cry in some moments,” she recalled. “But then, over time, you build up experience on the job and start feeling confident.”

The Khartiia Corps has taken more women into its ranks, reporting a 20% increase since 2024. About six months ago, the brigade launched a recruitment campaign aimed at women for combat and technological roles in cooperation with the Dignitas Foundation, a charity organization supporting Ukraine by funding technological innovation and civic development projects.

“In recent months, dozens of women have joined us in combat roles and are working successfully,” said Volodymyr Dehtyarov, the Khartiia Corps public affairs officer. “The more technology we have, like drones, the more historically male professions open up."

Khartiia has started training officers and future commanders on how to work with mixed units including people of different ages, genders and backgrounds, which Dehtyarov said helps commanders become more effective leaders.

The Ukrainian army remains conservative at its core and some units don’t make it easy for women.

A 25-year-old soldier with the call sign Yaha joined the military in 2023 and initially did paperwork as an army clerk. Three months later, she began asking to attend drone courses. Commanders at the time did not respond with enthusiasm and instead suggested she replace the cook.

“It was unpleasant for me, because I didn’t expect such uncomfortable conditions, such strict limitations,” Yaha said.

In the kitchen, she spent her free time studying drone manuals, practicing on a simulator and training in computer clubs with a controller she bought herself.

“I liked that you could strike the enemy remotely,” she said. “So I thought this was our future.”

Eventually, she became a bomber-drone pilot in the 9th Brigade.

“War is not cool or glamorous. It’s pain, suffering and loss. You just do it because you want to change the situation," she said. "But you’re not invincible. You’re just a person like everyone else."

Chibi, a 20-year-old FPV technician from the Khartiia Brigade, prepares drones for the battlefield from a dark damp basement near the front line in eastern Ukraine.

She initially faced prejudice from soldiers who claimed she had inferior technical skills because she was a woman. But she also had a supportive male colleague who helped her take the first steps toward becoming an FPV technician, which she finds more interesting than being a pilot.

“There needs to be more women in the army," Chibi said, her hair dyed pink and dark blue. "The more women there are, the better the attitude toward them will be.”

Olha Meloshyna, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, says the belief that drone roles are safer is wrong, as Russians actively hunt drone operators.

Their unit is seeing more women move into technological roles, including drone operation, drone repair and electronic warfare, as drones have become one of the main tools of striking and reconnaissance on the battlefield.

According to Meloshyna, 4.2% of the Unmanned Systems Forces are women, a number she considers significant because women enlist voluntarily.

“We are part of the new Ukrainian army that formed during the invasion. So in terms of gender-based acceptance into the Armed Forces, we have never had any division — what matters to us is desire and motivation,” she said.

She said that they are now conducting a more media-focused recruitment campaign, inviting and planning to recruit 15,000 people to join, including women. Recruiters say that women are applying for both combat and noncombat positions.

“The Unmanned Systems Forces are a system, and it is made up of people — men and women,” Meloshyna said. “No drone is autonomous. It needs human involvement. And the more personnel we have, the more drones will fly toward Russia.”

Chibi, a Ukrainian soldier from the Khartia brigade, tests a drone, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Monka, a Ukrainian FPV drone operator from the third assault brigade, pilots an FPV drone during a demonstration for The Associated Press, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Monka, an FPV drone operator from the third assault brigade, assembles an FPV drone during a demonstration for The Associated Press, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A Ukrainian soldier from the Khartia brigade, callsign Muza, jumps down from a tank following a demonstration for The Associated Press, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A Ukrainian drone operator from the Kraken 1654 unit, callsign Imla, flies a Vampire drone during a demonstration for The Associated Press, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chaotic weather, from surprising heat in California to damaging winds around Washington, D.C., put over half the U.S. population in the path of extreme conditions Monday.

Storms across the nation's eastern half forced airlines to cancel more than 3,000 flights nationwide Monday, and many schools closed early in the mid-Atlantic states, where high winds and tornadoes were in the forecast for the evening.

Blizzards buried parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota while torrential rains flooded homes and washed out roads in Hawaii.

In Washington, the House of Representatives postponed votes because of difficulty traveling with inclement weather, and federal agencies told workers to go home early.

Airport delays and cancellations piled up Monday in some of the nation’s largest airports — including those in New York, Chicago and Atlanta.

The private weather service AccuWeather calculated that more than 200 million people were under threat Monday of some kind of dangerous weather.

Those range from extreme heat and wildfire advisories to flood and freeze watches from the National Weather Service.

The storm system that dropped snow by the foot in the Midwest is barreling toward the East Coast with dangerously high winds and potential for “producing strong and long track tornadoes,” the weather service warned Monday.

“Wind is the primary threat, but within any of these areas of strong wind there could be some embedded tornadoes and even the potential for a tornado to develop ahead of the line,” said Evan Bentley, a meteorologist with the weather service.

The biggest threat stretched from Maryland to the upper edge of South Carolina.

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to enable emergency alerts on their phones ahead of expected gusts topping 70 mph (112 kph).

Blizzard conditions continued in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes on Monday after the storm walloped parts of Wisconsin and Michigan with several feet of snow.

Since Saturday, nearly 3 feet (61 centimeters) had fallen in the northern Wisconsin town of Mountain.

Another round of snow and gusts on Monday could bring another foot of snow across Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

A heat dome over the Southwest will push temperatures well into the triple digits in Arizona most of the week, much earlier than the region usually sees.

Much of California is starting to feel like summer too. The San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento will see temperatures pushing toward 90 F (32 C) by midweek.

“This is a heat wave that we have not seen before in recorded history in the Southwest,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Dan DePodwin.

Phoenix is expected to have five straight days of triple digit temperatures this week — only once before, in 1988, has the city recorded a 100 F (37.8 C) day in March, DePodwin said.

Dry and windy conditions were charging the largest wildfire in Nebraska’s history. Fires in the state have consumed more than 937 square miles (2,428 square kilometers) of mostly grassland.

Unrelenting rains triggered landslides, washed away roads and flooded homes and farmland in Hawaii over the weekend.

All of Hawaii’s islands had spots with more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain while parts of Maui were overwhelmed with double that amount, the weather service said.

While the worst of the storm has passed, more heavy rain is forecast for later this week. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said there were no reports of injuries or deaths and crews were assessing damage.

Forecasters said the East Coast storms were expected leave sharply colder weather in its wake.

The storm will stick around parts of the Northeast until Tuesday morning. By then, wind chills below freezing were expected to reach the Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle with warnings in effect across the Southeast and in part of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas, forecasters warned.

To the north, rain was expected to change over to snow behind the cold front with heavy snow possible in the central Appalachians of West Virginia.

__

Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland, and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu; Margery Beck in Omaha, Nebraska; Julie Walker in New York; Jeff Martin in Atlanta; and Gary Fields in Washington contributed.

People watch as storms roll over the U.S. Capitol Monday, March 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Morning traffic is seen on Lake Shore Drive, after the overnight snow, Monday, March 16, 2026, in downtown Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Dense fog and low clouds cover parts of the George Washington Bridge as seen from Fort Lee, N.J., Monday, March 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A person bundles up and fishes on a breakwater by Montrose Harbor, Monday morning, March 16, 2026, in downtown Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

A man shovels snow after a snowstorm Monday, March 16, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Snow is plowed after a snowstorm Monday, March 16, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Victor Alomoto who is from Ecuador cleared the sidewalk for the River Valley Church in the North Loop Pedestrians during the snow storm in Minneapolis, Minn., on Sunday, March 15, 2026.(Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)

Ogo Akpati and his son Brycson Akpati, 3, braved the strong winds and had fun sliding down a hill in Central Park Sunday, March 15,2026 in Brooklyn Park, MN. (Jerry Holt/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)

Fans walk through snowy streets before an NHL hockey game between the Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs, Sunday, March 15, 2026, in St. Paul. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

People drive on a snow-covered freeway during a snow storm Sunday, March 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)

Workers clear snow off the ground Sunday, March 15, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)