'Living in a frightening situation'- Estonian women learn to fight
PADISE, Estonia (Reuters) - Early on a Sunday morning fifteen women in rural Estonia listen to an instructor explain the inner workings of rifles and bullets, after spending a freezing night in self-built tents.
The women, aged from 20 to 60, are new recruits in the Women's Voluntary Defence Organisation, part of Estonia's state-run paramilitary defence. Five hundred new applicants joined since the fighting in Ukraine began, expanding the force to 3,200 members.
"If I'm needed to actually fight, I will fight, as ridiculous as it sounds in 2022," said woman doing the training, 41-year-old Kristel Eriks who is a travel agent living in Norway.
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, once ruled from Moscow but members of NATO and the European Union since 2004, have called on NATO to urgently reinforce the region after Russia invaded Ukraine.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/living-frightening-situation-estonian-women-130552215.html