Russian senator calls for recruiting women and disabled people into drone defence units

Federation Council member Alexey Kondratyev, a senator from Russia's ruling United Russia party, has called for enlisting women and disabled people in defence efforts amid Ukraine's increasing attacks on Russian territory, according to the independent outlet Verstka. He proposed creating drone defence units that would recruit all citizens regardless of sex or health.

Speaking on propagandist Vladimir Solovyov's Sunday Evening talk show, Kondratyev said that “people have the right to defend their homeland”, adding that “it doesn't matter whether you're wounded, ill or disabled”.

The senator argued that the units should function like the local air defence groups that operated during World War II, stationed “at every spot, every 200 metres.”

As an example, he recalled the 737th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment, made up of women from the Tambov region during the Second World War.

“The regiment made it all the way to Berlin. I still remember many of those Komsomol women — they were veterans, though time has passed, may they rest in peace. They also played a very active role in rebuilding the region's economy after the war,” the senator said.