OPINION | WOMEN’S ISSUES | UKRAINE | LITHUANIA
◊
by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė
◊
The author’s recent mission to Ukraine ended with gifting to Ukraine’s defenders the car she drove from Vilnius.
◊
When discussing feminism in Lithuania, I like to talk about women “volunteers” in part because I am one of them. Volunteers are people who give of their time and wherewithal to actually deliver aid to Ukraine. Their activities are very dangerous, because they often go to hot spots. On December 31, 2024, one volunteer was seriously injured when a package left on the street of a front-line town exploded in his hand. In June 2024, another volunteer lost a leg after coming under fire in Pokrovsk. You might think that this activity would discourage women, but there are a lot of them among the volunteers. These are emancipated, courageous women who go to the most dangerous zones, helping to transport cars and necessary equipment to the front.
I also go on such missions, because I believe that it is the duty of a true anti-fascist to fight this evil with all my might. The Putin regime’s fascism must be defeated in Ukraine so that it does not come to our homes here in Lithuania.
When traveling to the front line, in the Donetsk region, you are greeted not only by checkpoints, but also by minefields that stretch along the road you are driving on. Signs everywhere warn of mines. You see the destroyed cities and everything that the ideology of the “Russian Federation world” brings. And you understand that you are doing what you must, that all the achievements of feminism are worth only to the extent that you can help in dealing with this modern-day incarnation of fascism.
The Ukrainian soldiers are in dire need of cars — jeeps, pickup trucks, which we buy and drive to the front. The cars are loaded with things for the front: trench candles, camouflage nets, food for the soldiers. They are driven to Ukraine by volunteers.
During the last mission in December 2024, during which we drove 38 cars, eight of the cars were driven by women. One of them was driven by 74-year-old volunteer Alina, who was not afraid to drive in the dead of winter and in the midst of deadly warfare.
Another volunteer, Luiza, a hairdresser by trade, said after the mission: “It’s good that I dressed warmly, because the heater in the car didn’t work.” She said it casually, as if it were nothing. She drove the car all the way to Kyiv with the window open (to prevent the windshield from fogging up). After a difficult and, I would even say, extreme journey, Luiza still managed to find the strength to engage in another volunteer activity – she gave free haircuts to soldiers in one of Kyiv’s hair salons.
◊
Where feminism comes into it
Why am I writing about “volunteers” when touching on the topic of feminism?
Because I believe that it is in this activity that a woman’s true character and value choice emerges. Helping Ukrainians fight Putinist fascism is a historic opportunity and duty. By volunteering in Ukraine, we not only help the soldiers, but also learn from them how they will have to fight if the Kremlin does not stop. It is we who people there now call Xenas, Amazons and Plechavičiūtės (a national Lithuanian heroine), because we embody freedom struggles and female courage. We are the vanguard of feminism.
I have no doubt that my statements about Ukraine have encouraged more than one woman to join our official paramilitary organization or the ranks of volunteer soldiers. A large number of women have begun to take war preparation very seriously, looking for ways to obtain military training.
If Ukrainian feminists are fighting for the right of female soldiers to become members of assault brigades, then we in Lithuania are gradually starting to talk about compulsory military service for girls — following the example of Israel.
And by the way, among those who donate to foundations supporting Ukraine, most are women. It is they who, with their empathy best understand the suffering that the Ukrainian people are facing and — what kind of enemy we are dealing with.
◊
Related DH articles by Vilma Fiokla Kiurė:
- The Kremlin’s war on feminism in Europe
- Lithuania learns important lessons — the hard way
- Roma heroism in Ukraine eases some prejudice
◊
Looking at the images of long-time Defending History correspondent Vilma Fiokla Kiurė handing over the car in Kyiv, our community cannot help but be reminded of her heroic stances over the years, including the 2012 neo-Nazi march on Gedimino Boulevard, when she led a group of four women who blocked the neo-Nazis’ path, refusing to budge as the far-right throng approached (video). It took the police to shift them. That same year, she led a group of women demonstrators at a Vilnius University exhibition honoring the work of an avidly antisemitic “envelope artist”. —DK