Editor's note: this story was translated from the original VOA Ukrainian article.
The war in Ukraine has been going on for well over four years, with U.S., Ukrainian, and Russian negotiators meeting this week to find a way to end the conflict.
There are currently more than two million Ukrainian veterans of the war, and the number continues to grow.
Yaryna Chornohuz knows the reality of what they are experiencing. She is a Ukrainian poet, UAV operator, and sergeant in Ukrainian Marine Corps.
VOA spoke to her during her current tour of the United States, where she is talking about the war and reading some of her poetry, much of it written about the struggles of Ukraine's military.
Chornohuz says Ukrainian soldiers are “tired and exhausted, especially those of us constantly on the front lines without any rotation." She and her husband served seven and nine years in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, respectively.
“Yet, at the same time, we all know that we have fought for and earned the right to have a voice," she says. "We live, after all, in freedom - even on the front line, even in a war of attrition.”
She also makes the case for a postwar Ukraine being led by veterans.
"They are the ones capable of building the nation-unburdened by the legacy of corruption or a focus on personal gain and instead driven by a commitment to the common good," Chornohuz tells VOA.
The poet also spoke about the current debate over female conscription. She says it's not currently being considered but, "in a war of this scale, regardless of whether or not there is a formal mobilization of women, it is essential to prepare everyone so that, if necessary, they can become soldiers."
She tells VOA she likes to joke that "if you gathered all of us - all 75,000 women serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine - we could defend an entire small European nation. The audience at that event joked back that they would love to have an army of women like that to defend their own country."
Chornohuz also has a 12-year-old daughter. She says fighting a war and raising a child is difficult but not impossible.
"One can serve as a UAV operator and, after returning from night missions, prepare breakfast for one’s child. I did this myself while stationed near the front line, and I don’t think I’m the only one; many women manage to balance all of this."
She also shared some of her poetry, which is a way to deal with the pain of losing her fellow soldiers.
"The brightness of those eyes
the eyes of those who decided one day
to die in battle
are always brighter than others’."
She is also taking time to look ahead to a Ukraine not under threat. She says that "after every war, there comes a flourishing, an era of prosperity."
"If we win this war, we will no longer be a "victim" Ukraine, nor a post-colonial state; instead, we will become a "European tiger"- a nation with immense combat experience and a battle-hardened army, capable of defending other countries in the region."