With a rainbow sticker reading "Make Kyiv Queer Again" proudly branded across his rifle, Andrii takes to the front line in the north of the capital each day.
Identifying as pansexual — which means he is attracted to all genders — the 26-year-old had no hesitation joining Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces on day one of Russia's invasion.
Far from his life as a psychotherapist, Andrii is out to protect the streets where he grew up and to fight against the "social-political oppressive machine".
"We're in danger, of not only imperial Tsar reign, there's also a damn lot of sexism, racism and tremendous homophobia coming to us from the east," he told the ABC.
"I was extremely scared the first days, but now things are different. We are well supplied, trained and have 100 plans for any circumstance — we're all inspired and confident."
Andrii, who preferred to only give his first name, said there were a lot of LGBTQI people in the Ukrainian military who were on the front lines after fighting in Donbas for eight years.
He said they were fighting for their freedoms and have brought a "specific greeting" with them.
"One of the national slogans is 'Glory to Nation! Death to the enemies!' and the LGBTQI soldiers in the army have changed it to 'Queer to Nation! Death to the enemies!'" he said.
In the lead-up to the invasion, the US wrote a letter to the United Nations alleging that LGBTQI people, along with ethnic and religious minorities, were on Russia's kill list.
Such reports are taken seriously in the community, especially after the violent "anti-gay purge" in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya in 2017.
Authorities were accused of arresting more than 100 gay men and subjecting them to torture, with some of them killed.
"There has been no accountability for the round-up and torture of gay men in Chechnya, where the Kremlin turned a blind eye to these severe abuses," Graeme Reid, LGBT rights director at Human Rights Watch, told the ABC.
Queer life before the invasion
Although there were still problems with homophobia and transphobia, Cay — a non-binary queer activist with the Rebel Queers — said life in Kyiv before February 24 was "really amazing".
They were planning a queer party in the coming weeks and had received a grant to create a short film about activism.
"I was satisfied. I was in a healthy relationship, I loved the people around me and my friends, and I loved what I was doing," Cay, who asked to go by their activist pseudonym, said.
"I remember thinking, 'F***, I hope the war doesn't happen because it's going to destroy everything'."
Cay recently fled to Berlin but wants to return to Kyiv to be with their loved ones, even if it is still unsafe.
Their attitude has changed since the first days of the war when there were fears that queer people would be specifically targeted.
"Now we're seeing all the horrible things that Russians are doing, and I don't even think that they care if it's a queer person or not," Cay said.
"They are killing kids, everyone. They don't care … I cannot even comprehend it."
Through their activism, Cay's main motivation is for other queer people not to feel alone in country that still does not allow for same-sex marriage or same-sex adoption of children.
Some progress in LGBTQI rights has been made since Western-backed leaders came to power in 2014.
Last year, parliamentary committees began discussing a bill that would increase liability for discrimination and intolerance, and restrictions were lifted against gay people donating blood.
Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has expressed that the country is an "open society" and has publicly spoken out against homophobia.
"I saw a video of him a few years ago when someone asked him what he thinks of queer people and he said something like, 'Everyone has the freedom to be who they are'," Cay said.
Advances in LGBTQI rights blamed for war
Russian President Vladimir Putin has positioned himself as a defender of "traditional values", using LGBTQI rights as a political wedge issue.
He has referred to transgender rights as "crimes against humanity", said gay marriage will never be legalised, and has made the promotion of homosexuality illegal under Russia's "gay propaganda" law.
Russia's stance on these issues has been welcomed by many conservatives in other countries and helped Mr Putin build an alliance in opposition to the West.
Around the world, LGBTQI people and advances in their rights have been blamed for war and the conflict in Ukraine is no exception, Mr Reid said.
In his speech announcing the full-blown invasion of Ukraine, Mr Putin referred to the West undermining "traditional values" with "attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to human nature".
Earlier this month, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church said gay pride parades in Ukraine were partially responsible for Russia's invasion.
"Religious figures and political commentators from outside the conflict zone have also claimed that the advancement of LGBT rights in Ukraine is partially to blame for Russia's invasion," Mr Reid said.
LGBTQI groups in Ukraine have frequently been the target of attacks by extreme right-wing groups, which civil society groups said have spiked in recent years.
In 2021, far-right groups targeted pride marches and LGBTQI events across the country, some leading to violent scuffles with several participants and police injured.
Some activists believed those groups were influenced by the ideology and politics from neighbouring Russia.
Andrii is hopeful that the invasion will help to further unite Ukrainians, rather than leading to a loss of progress.
"Queer people, leftists, anarchists, right-wingers of different degree, and simple 'normies' are standing shoulder to shoulder to fight Russians," he said.
Transgender people face higher risk of violence
Anastasiia Yeva Domani, a trans activist and CEO of the NGO Cohort, began her transition in 2016 when legislation around changing one's sex on official documents had just begun to shift.
"It used to be extremely, extremely transphobic — similar to what it is in Russia right now," Ms Domani told the ABC.
"It's not ideal, but it's definitely better than it was before."
People are now allowed to change their gender marker without surgery and get a new birth certificate.
Although there has been progress towards legal gender recognition, Mr Reid said the process remains onerous, which has deterred many Ukrainians from updating their documents.
Without accurate gender markers on their ID, transgender individuals are left vulnerable to discrimination when travelling or accessing healthcare and aid.
"Transgender women who are listed as 'male' in government documents, and transgender men and masculine-presenting women, may be considered 'men' and as potential recruits are not allowed to leave Ukraine," he said.
Through Cohort — an organisation that provides direct assistance to trans Ukrainians — Ms Domani has been helping people access hormone replacement therapies (HRT) and doctor consultations.
LGBTQI people's ability to access life-saving healthcare from providers they know and trust during the invasion has been a concern.
Regional NGOs have received reports from shelters in Western Ukraine that they had run out of HRT and antiretroviral therapy (ART) medication for HIV/AIDS in the early weeks of the conflict.
Ukraine has the second-largest HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Despite receiving several offers from friends and colleagues all over the world to flee to country for safety, Ms Domani says she has no intention of leaving Kyiv.
Her priority is to stay and continue supporting trans people in Ukraine, and is planning to hold humanitarian events in safe cities on the International Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31.
"In regard to trans rights, we're not done yet," Ms Domani said.
