Politic?: A Profile of Courage

"You [Associated Press journalists in Mariupol] got this flash drive out and I thank you. Because of you, I could leave this hell. Thanks to everyone involved in the exchange."
"They [the other captured/imprisoned Ukrainian female hostages] are all I think about. Every time I grab a cup of coffee or light a cigarette, my conscience pains me because they can't."
"My heart bleeds when I think about it [the siege of Mariupol], when I remember how the city died. It died like a person -- it was agonizing."
Yuliia Paievska (aka Taira) Ukrainian medic

Yuliia Paievska closing the eyes of a child who died on February 26, 2022 in Mariupol. She recorded her team's frantic efforts to bring wounded people back from the brink of life.

She is widely celebrated in Ukraine as a patriot, an athlete, a humanitarian. When she was captured by the Russian military and spirited away as a hostage, it was a devastating blow. Her work as a nurse was unparalleled and hugely valued. It was not known whether she might eventually emerge alive, or meet death at the hands of her captors. When the Russian invasion was in its infancy she had planned to drive 20 people hiding in the basement of the hospital she was serving in, to safety, away from Mariupol.

She was seen by the Russians. "They recognized me. They went away, made a call, came back. As far as I can tell, they already had a plan." Five days later she appeared on a Russian news broadcast that announced her capture. The video shows her looking groggy, face bruised and she reads a statement prepared for her as a voice-over speaks contemptuously of her as a Ukrainian Nazi. Her eyeglasses were taken from her, and never returned. She was placed in a cell with 21 other women prisoners.

The women were forced to sing the Russian national anthem daily. If the guards were in a bad mood, they were prodded to keep singing the anthem, up to 20 or 30 times. "I found it a plus [singing the hated anthem, she said puckishly]. I've always wanted to learn to sing -- then suddenly I had the time and a reason to practice. And it turns out that I can sing."

The 53-year-old is multi-gifted. Not only can she 'sing', she is also an athlete who can compete with the most physically-energetic active competitors. She is celebrated for her work in training field medics. She is a demobilized military medic, a member of Ukraine's Invictus Games team. She made use of a body camera filming the games for a Netflix documentary series. In Mariupol, she shot scenes of war. When she was taken captive by Russian troops she was one among well over multiple thousands of Ukrainian women taken hostage.

In Mariupol, filming the Russian assault against the city she shot over 256 gigabytes of bodycam footage of her medical team's struggle to save the wounded in the city. She managed to get the footage on a flash drive to Associated Press journalists who were the last international team who left Mariupol before it was taken by the Russian military. The journalists left on March 15 taking the tiny data card with them hidden within a tampon where it went through 15 Russian checkpoints. The following day Taira was taken prisoner.

She finally emerged on June 17, exchanged for a Russian man in a prisoner trade. Relieved to leave the three-by-six metre prison cell she shared with 21 women. On her release she looked different after the loss of 22 pounds, the result of poor nutrition and lack of activity. The AP report that circulated internationally indicated she had given nursing care to both wounded Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, along with the civilians of Mariupol. That single fact, nursing wounded Russians, led to her release.

In an interview following her release she was asked whether during the time of her imprisonment she had fears of her captivity ending in her death. This was a question, she responded, often asked of her by her jailers. She had responded: "I said no, because I'm right with God. But you are definitely going to hell".