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.
