In wartime, it’s not unusual for a country to suspend some freedoms and oblige young people to fight. That’s what’s happened in Ukraine. But in a democracy, those conscripts still have rights and protections.
Today my colleague Maria Varenikova writes about Olha Reshetylova, the woman assigned by the Ukrainian government to protect soldiers — not from Russia, but from their own commanders, who can at times subject them to harsh treatment.
Reshetylova, 40, has two sons, 5 and 14. They could end up fighting if this war, which has been going on for over four years, drags on long enough. Her husband is fighting already. For her, this mission is personal.
The woman calling out the Ukrainian military
By Maria Varenikova
Who is Olha Reshetylova? She’s the Ukrainian military’s first ombudsman, the leading advocate for soldiers’ rights in a military of almost one million. She’s looking to change a culture in which superior officers have retaliated against soldiers who complain by threatening to send them on deadly missions.
One good quote: “Even under shelling, even in the army, even during war — first and foremost is dignity.”
How did she get the job? She created it, at the request of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Any criticism of the army is sensitive in Ukraine, where the institution is highly respected for sustaining a war for national survival against Russia since 2014. But Reshetylova, who spent the first years after the 2022 invasion documenting Russian war crimes, knew from her previous experience as a soldiers’ rights activist that Ukraine’s soldiers also needed protection from their own commanders.
Since the job was created last October, her office has received thousands of complaints from soldiers who say they aren’t able to get medical treatment, who have issues getting paid or who have been threatened by their own commanders.
What is her relationship with the military higher-ups like? Touchy. Reshetylova told me a story, from before she’d been appointed ombudsman, about a commander who ordered his soldiers to point their rifles at her to prevent her from entering a base. She was also the target of an online smear campaign that cast her as a Russian agent.
Since her official appointment, her relationships with the brass has gotten better. I recently watched her on a visit with a brigade in western Ukraine, and saw her have productive conversations with commanders. She talked with one about new recruits who were too unwell to fight — more burden than benefit, as the colonel put it — but who also couldn’t legally be left behind. She said she’d raise the issue with officials in Kyiv.
They also talked about new soldiers who run away. According to government data, about 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers have at some point been away without leave, many fleeing within days of arriving at basic training.
Commanders have pushed for more punishments, like freezing their bank accounts; Reshetylova has added a course to basic training on how to transition to military life.
Why does she think this is important? Protecting soldiers’ rights will make the military stronger, Reshetylova thinks. Helping soldiers understand that, even in the military, they still have rights could help reduce both draft dodging and AWOL cases, she says.
Since her official appointment, commanders are sometimes still skeptical, she said. But, legally, they “must accept me.”
Related: Zelensky was in London yesterday for talks with the leaders of Britain, Germany and France, who are weighing ways to step up their role in peace talks with Russia.
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