History of the creation of the NGO "Ukrainian Women's Battalion"
Alona Danilova is a battalion commander and the founder of the Ukrainian Women’s Battalion.
Alona is a journalist by profession. She, like millions of Ukrainians, tried to build a career and realized her dreams. However, since 2014, her family has known what war is like.
In 2014, Alona’s stepfather went to defend Ukraine and was soon captured. After 9 months, volunteers helped to bring him home. And today he defends Ukraine again on the battlefield.
February 24 was another reminder that the struggle for freedom continues.
Alona’s husband has been in the military since 2014. At first, he was a volunteer during the Revolution of Dignity, and then joined the Antiterrorist operation (ATO). In 2018, he was seriously injured. He was wounded by a machine gun, now he is missing part of his organs: kidneys, spleen, part of the stomach, liver. However, despite this, on February 24, the man again went to defend Ukraine.
“On February 24, I woke up from the words: ‘Alona, the war has started. Please take care of yourself. I’m gone’. I didn’t really understand where he went and for how long, and then when I realized, we were already saying goodbye at the door. Can you imagine? You let a person go and you don’t know if you’ll see him again or not… It’s not a strange feeling, but just not realizing what’s happening,” Alona recalls.
Alona was under missile fire in Kyiv for more than two months. At first, she helped the boys from Territorial Defense Forces – they came to eat and take a shower. After the missile landed near her house, Alona decided to go to her relatives in another region.
“When the neighboring houses were shelled, I realized that it was time to evacuate. There were no other options – 100%. My husband is a military man, if the russians came into our apartment, most likely, I would be killed or abused. Then I decided to go to my parents in another region. Yes, it seemed to be calmer there. There are no aircraft flying over you, fewer missiles. But you live in a constant feeling of guilt: you do nothing to win, you left people there (although I don’t even know who they are), you have no right to live on. And so I woke up at 5:00 a.m. for a month. You know, when you live in such a state for a long time, you get used to it,” says the “Ukrainian Women’s Battalion” battalion commander.
Arriving at her parents’ house, Alona could not find a place for herself, because she learned that her 18-year-old brother was also defending Ukraine. She communicated a lot with girls and women who also experienced the events of the war. The girl admits that psychologically it was very difficult. However, moving away from the shock, she decided to create a community where women would be useful for our defenders. Actually, this is where the history of the “Ukrainian Women’s Battalion” begins.
Alona united the girls in order to jointly support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The team includes: soccer players, journalists, singers, actresses, managers, marketers, teachers, economists, doctors, historians, psychologists and many other girls with big hearts.
On March 26, 2022, the team of the “Ukrainian Women’s Battalion” officially started its work.