Russian security services told RIA Novosti that the Ukrainian defense ministry's order for 150,000 women's winter jackets can be regarded as a target indicator concerning the mobilization of women into the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
This week it emerged that Ukraine's Defense Procurement Agency unexpectedly placed an order for 150,000 women's winter jackets, and not for rear personnel but for the regular army. The order features a third-type wind- and water-resistant jacket. This concerns specifically the women's version, first introduced in the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2025. The state order amounts to about 462 million hryvnias (roughly 896 million rubles). One jacket costs about 6,000 rubles. The deadline for delivery is summer 2027.
"This is not just an order, it is a target indicator for mobilization. Earlier Kyiv already demonstrated attempts to attract more women into the army, and today, due to a shortage of manpower, this intention has returned," the source noted.
In early August, a petition appeared on the website of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers calling for extending military duty to women who have no children. In August, former U.S. President's special envoy Keith Kellogg said that women in Ukraine should be mobilized because they "fight no worse than men." Later, former Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov again raised the topic of mobilizing women, and Verkhovna Rada deputy Mariana Bezuhla called mass service by women in the Ukrainian Armed Forces "a matter of time."