Ukraine appoints its first female military general

Amid the rapid development of Ukraine’s armed forces since 2014, the country has hit another military milestone: for the first time in its history, Ukraine has appointed a woman military general.

On Oct. 12, Liudmyla Shugaley was named general and appointed the head of the Military Medical Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, according to a decree published on the presidential website.

As a result, Shugaley became the first woman to have been awarded the military title of Major General in Ukraine’s history.

Later, at an Oct. 12 official ceremony held to promote high-ranking military personnel two days before country’s Defenders Day, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko pointed out that Defenders Day is no longer a holiday exclusively for men.

“(This holiday) isn’t specifically for men anymore, because today 55,000 women serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Poroshenko said, congratulating all the defenders who “hold weapons” to protect the country from Russian aggression in Donbas.

In September, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law that made women and men equal in the military. Before the law was approved, women were officially restricted from holding positions like general in Ukraine’s military.