When nightfall descends on a suburban area northwest of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the Witches of Bucha come alive.
Air Defence Volunteers
By day, the women work as doctors and teachers, but by night, they safeguard Ukraine from Russian drones. The women are volunteers in air defence units trained to wield machine guns and assault rifles to shoot down Russian drones filled with explosives.
The women of Ukraine are on the frontline in many respects. They are increasingly keeping Ukrainian society functioning, as more and more men are conscripted into the army to fight. The Witches of Bucha, as they call themselves, are a volunteer air defence unit made up almost entirely of women, now helping to protect Ukraine’s skies.
It’s Personal
Tetiana’s husband sent her and their children out of Ukraine when the Russians invaded. They stayed in Spain while her husband fought on the frontlines. She decided to leave her children in Spain and return to Ukraine to be with her husband. Her return date was March 15, 2022.
Her husband was killed on March 12th. Now she volunteers to do what she can to keep the skies above Ukraine safe.
There are 67,000 Ukrainian women fighting against the invaders.
Women like Valentyna. She is a 51-year old veterinarian working near Bucha. Volunteering is personal.
She remembers the horror of the Russian occupation in March 2022. Hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian fighters, while thousands more were raped, tortured and robbed, She can’t forget the screams of her own child. A soldier at a Russian checkpoint forced them to lower the car window before placing a gun to her son’s head. They passed dead soldiers and civilians, along with decimated tanks when they were fleeing.
Her friend Inna is also in her early 50s and out on one of her first deployments.
She says it’s scary, but so is giving birth. Inna laughs as she says she did that three times.
Ancient Weapons
A math teacher, she occasionally has to rush back from the woods to take a class. She keeps her clothes in the car including her heels. She applies some lipstick, teaches the lesson and then it’s back in the car, quick change and back at the ready.
Their unit scramble from their base in the woods, and their pick-up truck bumps through the darkness towards the middle of a field. The team of four jump out to begin mounting their weapons.
The machine-guns are from another era: two Maxims made in 1939, ammunition boxes stamped with red stars from Soviet days.
Serhiy, the only man on the team, has to pour in bottled water by hand as a coolant. This is all that’s available: Ukraine’s best kit is at the frontline, and it is constantly asking its allies for more. 
They say, “The guys have gone, but we’re here. What can’t Ukrainian women do? We can do everything.”
Katya Adler, the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford, and Olga Malchevska, who is from Ukraine talk about the role of Ukrainian women in the war.
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