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☆ Ukraine's female soldiers are fighting on two fronts — against Russians, and sexism within their ranks
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said last October that almost 43,000 women are currently serving in the military, a 40% increase since 2021, before Russia's full-scale invasion. Female combatants in Ukraine say the war is changing societal perceptions of a woman's strength, capabilities and worth, but change doesn't happen overnight. "At anything else, military women are no different from men ... [and] the more women there are who perform their duties well, the better the attitude towards military women becomes. Ukraine's defense ministry is also keen to highlight efforts it has made to level the playing field for female recruits. It's a far cry from 2021 when Ukrainian female troops were photographed practising for a parade wearing high heels with onlookers calling the policy sexist and idiotic.

Persons: Tsybukh, Olena Bilozerska, I'm, Bilozerska, Bilozeska, Olena, Metin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, —, It's, Drahaniuk, Yuliia Organizations: Ukrainian, Assault Brigade, Anadolu, Getty, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, CNBC, Medical Battalion, Anadolu Agency, Ukraine, Ministry of Defense Locations: Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Russia, Crimea, Donbas, Ukraine's, Donetsk, Ukrainian, Lviv, Soviet, Kyiv, Yuliia

Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced Tuesday he would end his hold on most military promotions under pressure from fellow Republicans 10 months into a standoff sparked by the Pentagon’s abortion policy. “I’m releasing everybody,” Tuberville said, adding that he still has a hold on some four-star generals. But senators on both sides of the aisle have grown agitated in recent months over his tactic, which they say threatens military readiness and unfairly punishes service members. Tuberville appeared to be eyeing a handful of face-saving off-ramps in recent days to justify the end to his protest. Gen. Pat Ryder said after Tuberville’s announcement that the Defense Department is “encouraged” by the news but will continue to urge Tuberville to lift all of the holds.

Persons: Sen, Tommy Tuberville, ” Tuberville, ”, servicewomen, Mitch McConnell, “ we’re, Tuberville, Chuck Schumer, “, ” Schumer, discombobulation, Brig, Pat Ryder Organizations: Alabama Republican, GOP, Pentagon, Tuberville’s, Defense Department

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to bring a $106 billion White House supplemental funding package, which includes aid for Ukraine and Israel, among other things, to the floor as soon as this week. But its passage hangs in the balance as Senate Republicans have pledged to block the package unless a deal is reached on border security. “There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment,” White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young wrote. Meanwhile, House Republican leadership appears to be eyeing a floor vote, which could come as soon as this week, to formally authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. “We’re being stonewalled by the White House,” Johnson told Fox News on Saturday.

Persons: Chuck Schumer, ”, Shalanda Young, “, –, Mike Johnson, it’s, Joe Biden, Hunter Biden’s, they’ve, Biden, ” Johnson, Sen, Tommy Tuberville, Tuberville, servicewomen Organizations: White, Republicans, Office of Management, Russia, Senate, Democrats, Republican, Fox News, IRS, Tuberville’s, GOP Locations: Ukraine, Israel, U.S, ”

Senate Republicans anticipate that a resolution is near to Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s holds on Pentagon promotions, 10 months into the standoff that has spurred frustrations throughout the chamber. “You just get the feeling that Sen. Tuberville is about to find an off-ramp,” Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee, told reporters on Wednesday. And another alternative would involve Tuberville continuing his protest of the policy while some lower-level promotions are allowed to move forward. It remained unclear which path forward Tuberville would agree to to end his hold. But Senate Republicans broadly appeared eager to get things moving once again.

Persons: Sen, Tommy Tuberville’s, Tuberville, ” Sen, Roger Wicker, servicewomen, ”, Markwayne Mullin, Chuck Schumer, Mike Rounds, ” Rounds, Republicans don’t Organizations: Pentagon, Republican, Senate Armed Service Committee, GOP, Republican Party, Alabama Republican, Oklahoma Republican, Armed Services Committee, “, ”, Republicans, Tuberville’s, South Dakota Republican

☆ World War Two veterans eye 80th anniversary of D-Day as Europe salutes war dead
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Tim Hepher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Thirty of us went out, 16 including my brother got back, five of us got captured and nine got killed," Hay said. He is now an active ambassador for the nearby British Normandy Memorial, overlooking Gold Beach in the UK sector. Until two years ago, Britain was alone among allies on the Western front in not having a dedicated Normandy memorial. The 30-million-pound ($37 million) memorial was financed by fines levied on banks by the British government, as well as private donations. In a forest near Regensburg, Germany, guns approached from the West and the German commanding officer accepted the war was over.

Persons: Ken Hay, Tim Hepher, Hay, Britain's King Charles III, Emmanuel Macron, Sacha Marsac, Thomas Hardwyre Milligan, Sidney Bates, VIII, I've, Kevin Liffey Organizations: Normandy, Juno, Royal International Air, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Normandy, Fairford, Britain, France, Nazi, English, Essex, Gold, Ver, Mer, British, Hay, Czech Republic, Regensburg, Germany

Leading Senate Democrats are teasing a new path forward to bypass one senator’s blockade of military promotions, leaning on GOP frustrations that bubbled to the surface this week and culminated in a dramatic confrontation from members of the senator’s own party. A group of Republican senators took to the Senate floor late Wednesday to attempt to circumvent a dispute in which Sen. Tommy Tuberville has single-handedly held up more than 300 military promotions over a Pentagon abortion travel policy. The stunning scene comes nine months into the blockade and as Democrats – and more recently fellow Republicans – have grown anxious to move the military promotions forward. It would require the support of all Democrats and independents and at least nine Republicans. But they suggested that Tuberville should take his issue to the courts, rather than holding up the chamber and setting a dangerous precedent.

Persons: Sen, Tommy Tuberville, –, Tuberville, Chuck Schumer, “, ” Schumer, Jack Reed, Kyrsten, Richard Blumenthal, servicewomen, ” Sen, Joni Ernst, I’m, Ernst, ”, Schumer, …, Biden, Mitt, Blumenthal, Joe Manchin, ” Manchin Organizations: Republicans, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Democratic, GOP, Pentagon, Tuberville, United States Senate, DOD, Iowa Republican, Utah Republican Locations: Alabama, Rhode Island, Arizona, Richard Blumenthal of, Israel, Mitt Romney, Utah, West Virginia

☆ Ukraine is rolling out a lighter, form-fitting body armor for women after female soldiers said wearing men's clothes got in the way of their frontline fighting
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The body armor is lighter than the men's version and is easier to take off. The body armor will be rolled out once it passes tests by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense. The new body armor solves the chafing and discomfort that flat armor chest plates pose for women on the battlefield, per Ukrainian Armor. The body armor has passed internal tests and will now undergo tests by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, per Ukrainska Pravda. A representative for Ukraine's Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Persons: Ukrainian Armour, Ukrainska, Yan Honcharov, Oleksii Reznikov Organizations: Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, Service, Ukrainian, Ukrainska Pravda, Pravda, trailblazer Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Ukrainian, Kyiv

☆ Latest news on Russia's war in Ukraine, Donetsk offensive claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Jessie Yeung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference in Kyiv, on June 2. Zelensky typically thanks specific units in his speeches, but yesterday he name-checked more than a dozen individuals, among them commanders, gunners, marines and infantrymen. "We should all remember that our defense, our active actions, and the independence of Ukraine are not something abstract. These are very particular people, particular actions of particular heroes, thanks to which Ukraine exists and Ukraine will exist," Zelensky said. Last month, Zelensky said Ukraine needed a "bit more time" — likely to allow for the delivery of more Western military aid, including much-needed air defense systems.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Sergei Supinsky, Zelensky, “, ” Zelensky Organizations: Getty, Kyiv, Wall Locations: Kyiv, AFP, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Russia

☆ The U.S. Government’s Woke Training
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a gender gingerbread person. And if U.S. Army servicewomen express “discomfort showering with a female who has male genitalia,” what’s the brass’s reply? Talk to your commanding officer, but toughen up. These are details from hundreds of pages of diversity and inclusion training materials used by the federal government in 2021 and obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Everyone in corporate life knows such training, lampooned in the second episode of the TV show “The Office.” Yet taxpayers might be curious how their money is being spent to instruct the federal workforce these days.

☆ After a general's clash with Fox News' Tucker Carlson, soldiers worry the US Army 'has gone full MAGA'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Steve Beynon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"Intentionally or not, this whole thing showed women that we are not worth defending," one noncommissioned officer told Military.com. To some, scrutinizing Donahoe's defense of women online is being seen as the service bending the knee to right-wing media. … The Army has gone full MAGA," the general said, referencing former President Donald Trump's campaign slogan, Make America Great Again. Other Army leaders backed the sentiment, including Grinston, who said on Twitter, "Women lead our most lethal units with character. Department of DefenseDonahoe was an avid user of social media at a time when most military leaders were wary of some of the risks of being active in the military community online.

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