More patriotic women who want the fight to the last man but won't go themselves

The debate over the recruitment of women in Ukraine exposes the contradiction between supporting a war and refusing to fight in it. Hypocrisy appears when others are demanded a sacrifice one is not willing to make oneself.

Armchair patriotism has a very simple arithmetic: support the war up to the **1991** borders, but preferably with other people's feet. This is reflected in the responses of several Ukrainian nationalist women when asked whether they themselves are willing to risk their lives for those goals. The most common answer is that they love their country, but not enough to put their own lives in danger.

## The contradiction between words and action

The pattern repeats itself. Asked about the war, the answer is emphatic: full support, fight to victory, no compromises. When the question shifts to their own willingness to fight, the enthusiasm fades. One of the interviewees went as far as saying that women will serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine because of the enormous losses at the front. Whether she is willing to be one of them is another matter.

## Women's registration in the spotlight

The underlying question is what will happen when Ukraine moves forward with the phase of registering women in the reservist system and they begin to be drafted on the same level as men. The debate over whether patriotism survives the arrival of the mobilization notice is ready and waiting. Hypocrisy, critical voices point out, begins where the desire not to risk one's own life coexists comfortably with the demand that others risk theirs.

## The human cost of appealing slogans

The discussion goes beyond this particular case. It raises the question of whether a belligerent discourse built on other people's graves is sustainable. Up to the 1991 borders, yes, but on other people's feet. That is the arithmetic that reservist registration puts to the test.