Russian President Vladimir Putin honored today, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, those women who “fulfill their duty” by offering their services to the country, also referring to the invasion of Ukraine.

“Today, when Russia is once again faced with immediate threats to its security and sovereignty, we see many examples of courage and determination,” Putin said during an event in the Kremlin.

The Russian president awarded medals to women from various sectors of the economy and society, including the military, as well as mothers of many children.

“In this room there are women who honorably fulfill their military duty,” Putin continued, expressing “his gratitude to all women.”

Putin, a self-proclaimed defender of “traditional values,” established by decree in 2022 the “heroine mother” medal, which is awarded annually to women who have ten or more children. Today it was given to two women.

Putin also awarded a medal to a female journalist from Kherson, a Ukrainian region that has been partially controlled by the Russian military, to a doctor at a pediatric hospital in Luhansk, a region in eastern Ukraine also claimed by Moscow. and to an official of the Russian occupation authorities in Zaporizhia, southern Ukraine.