I'M A WARRIOR... not by profession but by spirit

Maryna Mirzaeva is one of 70,000 women in Ukraine's armed forces. With the embattled country under increasing pressure to sign up to a US peace plan, Lord Ashcroft reports on their extraordinary courage under fire

- LORD ASHCROFT

MOST motivational speakers deliver their inspirational words in the comfort of a warm lecture hall or a conference room. When Maryna Mirzaeva addresses her audience, she often strives to be heard above the sound of artillery and mortar shells, sometimes even kamikaze drones and missiles, while winter temperatures can dip below -20C.

One thing is certain: neither she nor those who listen to her are ever entirely safe. For Maryna is a motivational speaker in the armed forces of Ukraine.

As she puts it: "I'm not a warrior by profession, but a warrior by spirit." She has had many brushes with death over the past three and a half years working with her comrades. However, her closest one came only weeks ago when she was the passenger in a military jeep being driven by a male colleague.

To begin with, as Maryna recalls the moment of the Russian attack, she falls silent and tears well up in her eyes. Then she composes herself: "I was with a good friend of mine who had the call-sign Africa. We were targeted by a Russian FPV [First Person View] drone, these weapons have now penetrated the front line in large numbers.

"He was killed and I survived. Of course, the true titans of this war are the infantry. The fighters from all our units who go out to the line of contact risk their lives every single day. The war has changed - the vast number of drones complicates absolutely everything, including logistics.

"We take risks too, carrying out rear-area work and travelling between units to complete assigned tasks. That day, luck was not on our side. This is war."

When I asked Maryna, 28, the extent of her own injuries, I realised for the first time that the heavy makeup on her face was to cover burns and cuts from the blast.