The order regarding the establishment of uniforms for female military personnel, which provided for high-heeled shoes, was adopted back in 2017, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran says.

"Regarding the decisions of the Ministry of Defense on footwear for female military personnel. After some political forces inflated this issue by making an elephant out of a fly, I took some measures to neutralize these attacks and I believe that these attacks were inspired and unfounded. In particular, the order regarding the establishment of uniforms for female military personnel, which provided for such shoes, was adopted back in 2017. These are ordinary women's shoes for dress uniforms," the minister said at a government meeting on Wednesday.

The minister said that such shoes are really not comfortable. In this connection, the Ministry of Defense has developed a new model of shoes that have lacing, which makes it possible to take into account different shapes of the foot. Also, the new shoes will have a much smaller heel.

As reported earlier, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine informed that female cadets will march in high-heeled shoes at the Independence Day parade on Khreschatyk in Kyiv. This decision drew criticism from social media users and opposition politicians.

Later, MPs called on Defense Minister Andriy Taran to conduct an official investigation into the decision on the need for cadets to march in high-heeled shoes during the Independence Day parade on Khreshchatyk and ask for forgiveness from female military personnel.

Later, the Minister of Defense instructed to consider the possibility of purchasing samples of experimental models of shoes for women military specifically for the parade in honor of the Independence Day.