On Ukraine’s Independence Day: A Call to Stand Firm in Support of Ukraine and Ukrainian Women
Thirty-five years ago, Ukraine declared its independence and set out to build a democratic future of its own choosing. Today, that future is being defended at extraordinary cost. This year has seen the war’s toll on civilians rise nearly every month, and the trend has only accelerated: July 2026 brought the highest number of civilian casualties recorded in a single month since the earliest weeks of the full-scale invasion, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, with hundreds killed and thousands more wounded as Russian missile and drone strikes intensified against cities, homes, and infrastructure. August has offered no reprieve. The Russian war of aggression continues, and the cost to Ukrainian civilians continues to grow with it.
Women, girls, and the elderly bear a disproportionate share of this toll. They make up the majority of those displaced and of those enduring life along the front lines, and they are repeatedly put at risk when Russia strikes the schools, kindergartens, and hospitals it is bound by international humanitarian law to spare. At the same time, women are shouldering a disproportionate share of the caretaking that these conditions demand, holding families and communities together even as the war upends them. But their role is not confined to the burdens they carry. Ukrainian women have kept the country’s independent future alive: leading humanitarian response, sustaining local governance under fire, serving in the armed forces and civil defense, and preserving the civic and cultural life that gives the idea of an independent Ukraine its meaning. They are also serving in parliament and across public service, shaping the decisions that will define Ukraine’s path forward. Their leadership remains essential to policy decisions, eventual peace negotiations, and the recovery of Ukraine.
Ukraine cannot afford to lose international attention. Sustained support, in the form of air defense, humanitarian assistance, and unwavering diplomatic solidarity, is crucial to saving lives. On this Independence Day, we stand with Ukraine, and we recommit to supporting the Ukrainian people until a just and lasting peace is achieved.
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