Mother of three Iryna “Unbreakable” Terekhovych is running a division of the Mountain Assault Battalion on the frontline in the east of Ukraine
“My nickname is ‘Unbreakable.’ I was given it a long time ago by my comrades. Probably, for stubbornness,” Iryna recalls the story of her nickname.
On February 24, 2022, Terekhovych was already in the east of Ukraine. She says men quite normally perceive a female commander. “We have friendly relations and my orders are all carried out because I know a lot and it is appreciated.”
“I have three children, the youngest son is 4 years old. The husband is also a soldier. How do work at the frontline and motherhood combine? There is no way. It is impossible to reconcile. My mother and older daughters, aged 21 and 23, help me. They are fully engaged with the younger brother.”
For the woman, the war began in 2015. That was when she took a path from a volunteer to an anti-tank commander. Before 2014, Iryna worked in Crimea. After the annexation, she took the last train to the controlled area and settled in Mykolaiv. Together with other women, she started an initiative to sew uniforms, T-shirts, and other things for the Ukrainian military.
But later, she decided to volunteer in the Army of Ukraine. Iryna started as a radio operator, and there she met the easel anti-tank grenade launcher for the first time. At first, she worked as a spotter, then a shooter, and, finally, became the commander of the grenade launcher and grew into the Mountain Assault Battalion commander.
Terekhovych says that sometimes she is afraid as most people, but the main thing for her is to continue and oust all the Russian soldiers away from her Motherland.
