meeting with “Taira”, rescuer on the Ukrainian front

Yulia Paevskaia, aka “Taira”, a rescuer on the front lines in Ukraine, has become famous for her acts of bravery since 2014.

Emmanuel Macron judges “unacceptable” the Russian strike on a DIY hypermarket in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, which left at least eleven people killed and dozens injured on Saturday May 25, according to kyiv. While the Ukrainian army says it has stopped the Russian offensive north of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city remains under constant enemy fire.

franceinfo met a famous voice from Ukraine, who is returning from this front: Yulia Paevskaia, known to Ukrainians by the code name “Taira”. This rescuer is known throughout the country for her acts of bravery since 2014. In April 2022, while she helped civilians flee the siege of Mariupol, the woman, who is also a high-level athlete, was recognized by the Russian soldiers, then arrested. She lived through three months of hell, under torture and it was in Kharkiv, in the north-east of the country that franceinfo met her.

Identifiable among thousands, with her tattoos and her military uniform, Taira agrees to speak to us in a bar in Kharkiv but she will not talk about the three months of torture she suffered, nor the multiple hip operations since then, as well as the how the Kremlin used her for its propaganda by calling her a Nazi. Taira returns exhausted from the front line and prefers to talk in her hoarse voice about what kept her going: the help she provides to the soldiers. The most important thing for her is blood transfusions. “When you transfuse a wounded person, it’s as if you injected him with all your love, all your beliefs, and he comes back to life. It’s like magic. Even a person to whom you would give no chance of survival can come back to her senses. She opens her eyes and immediately feels better. she confesses.

It’s her way of making herself useful, on the front, but also abroad. Taira takes advantage of her notoriety to ask for more help from Westerners. “This is what I have been doing every day since I was exchanged and returned to Ukraine. After my release, I was able to speak publicly, I asked for weapons, anti-aircraft defenses, I also ask for money for civilians”, she says.
With her tired look she explains that she is reassured. Since the new Russian offensive launched on May 10, the Ukrainian army has held firm, she assures. “In the last few days we managed to repel the Russians. The Ukrainian army is doing a good job, I am really happy about that”assures Taira.

“I will never give up. I know we will win.”

Taira, Ukrainian rescuer

at franceinfo

An unwavering will for the one who never stops thinking about all those she left behind in Russian jails and who have not yet had the chance to be released.