https://digivn.dw.com/view/251105-09-0522

Lower thirds:

0:03  Report by / Iryna Ukhina & Pablo Foley Elias
0:25  Yana
1:12  Nastya
1:54  Yana
2:41  Nastya

Script:

0:00

Reunited after weeks apart. 

Sisters Yana and Nastya both serve in the Ukrainian army. 

0:11 

Nastya heads the personnel department of an artillery division.

0:18

Yana is a squad commander and junior sargeant. 

Reflecting their roles, the sisters say they have very different personalities.

0:24

SOT Yana

"She is so calm, she can calmly resolve conflicts with words. And I am so hot-tempered." 

0:33

Yana joined the army last year. Nastya signed up in 2023.

The sisters say that serving their country at the same time makes it easier. 

0:44 SOT Yana 

" I'm already used to shelling. If something is flying, I already know what to do. I'm not in such a panic. On the contrary, I can still calm some guy sitting next to me: "Calm down, everything is fine, it will fly by in a moment, calm down, everything is fine, it didn't come for you." And she wasn't there. I think she'd even be scared that the "shahed" drone would fall nearby. And on her psyche." 

1:11 SOT Nastya

"Why are you making me into some kind of..." 

1:14 SOT Yana

"You're softer than me. I'm tough and you're such a sweetheart."  

1:19

The sisters face many challenges in the army, even criticism about their appearance.

1:31 SOT Nastya

"What triggers it is that people do not understand that although we serve but we're also women. We want to be well-groomed, beautiful. I want to wear make-up, have beautiful hands, nails, hair. Why do they care? I'm here and you're there."

1:53 SOT Yana

"Yes, it's also very upsetting that men who would never voluntarily come here write this. I don't know, maybe they have some kind of envy that women are stronger and have much more courage than men. I don't know why that is."

2:17

Yana is the only woman in her unit who is regularly on front line duty in the Pokrovsk offensive. 

2:26 SOT Yana

"Well, yes, because the most difficult thing is the road: what goes there, what comes back. Because there is no communication, anything can happen to you, anything. "knock on wood". Well, "knock on wood". And that's why she is very worried."

 SOT Nastya

"When she is in position, when she enters or leaves position, I spend as much time as possible to hear what the situation is like, what is happening there."

2:55

With no end to the war in sight, the sisters are clinging to the hope that it will come to an end soon and they can spend more time together.  

3:05 end