 Russia sends women into combat in Ukraine. Women are scarcely found among the Russian soldiers who have invaded Ukraine, occupied its territory, killed and been killed and committed some of the most horrifying war crimes that have been seen in the recent past. But there are some signs that this could be changing. According to the Moscow Times media outlet, in October 2023, the Boars Battalion of Redut, a mercenary group under the control of Russia's defense ministry posted an advertisement on Russian social media seeking women for combat roles in Ukraine. This follows reports in July 2023 that the Defense Ministry was recruiting women to serve in support roles such as doctors and cooks. In March 2023, inmates from Russian women's prisons were being recruited to serve in Ukraine, perhaps in combat. Military recruitment campaigns have relied heavily on the idea that service is a distinctively masculine calling, although the partial mobilization of September 2022 included a small number of women with medical training. The overwhelming emphasis was on rounding up men, even if recruiters had to resort to including men who were medically unfit to make up the numbers. Moscow Times says that there are only limited details available about Redut's recruitment effort. But they do refer to recruiting women for specific roles, sniper and drone operator. Both are interesting choices that would do little to change dominant perceptions of gender roles in Russia. Letting women become snipers was justified with the claim that it required stereotypically feminine traits such as patience and attention to detail. It is also a role that involves killing the enemy at a distance rather than through hand-to-hand combat. The job of a drone operator has many similarities with that of a sniper. It requires precision, the patient to wait for an opportune moment to strike and of course entails a distance between the soldier and the enemy. Putting larger numbers of Russia's women into combat would raise serious questions about the state of Putin's special military operation and his commitment to traditional social values.