She is the Ukrainian sanitary soldier who filmed the horrors during the attack on Mariupol in 2022. 55-year-old Iuliia Paievska, better known by her nickname Taira, is a legend in Ukraine. Especially after the Oscar-winning film “20 days in Mariupol”. – If I’m tired? No. Physically I’m exhausted, but mentally I’m fine. Iuliia Paievska lights another cigarette and looks out for summery and peaceful Oslo. The arms are full of large tattoos. On many of her fingers she has some slightly indeterminate rings. TATTOO. The tattoos on the arms have become one of the trademarks of Taira, Iuliia Paievska. Photo: Monica Ruiz Biern/news The pictures she took in the weeks after Russia went to full-scale war against Ukraine on 24 February 2022 show why. STRONG IMAGES. The video images that Taira took from Mariupol went around the world. Taira was the volunteer medic who, with a camera on her head, filmed wounded soldiers and civilians, including children, in Mariupol, before she was captured by Russian soldiers at a roadblock outside the city on 16 March. A few days later she appeared on television and called for the war to end, a statement she was clearly pressured to make. CAMERA ON THE HEAD. With a camera on her head, Iulia Taira Paievska filmed what happened in Mariupol in 2022. Photo: AP – You don’t understand what’s going on After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj personally got involved, Iuliia Paievska was released on June 17, 2022, in connection with one of the first prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine. – I am trying to analyze what really happened at the time, Paievska tells news when asked how her captivity has affected her. -. But I think less of myself. I think more of all those who are still in captivity. – I am a trained psychologist. I knew how to behave under such conditions. What happens in captivity and in war is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, you Europeans do not understand what is going on, she says. BUSY. Iulia Paievska is on a tour, including to Norway and Denmark, to draw attention to Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. Photo: Monica Ruiz Biern/news Asking for help to bring prisoners home Iuliia Paievska believes the international community must do more to bring home the perhaps more than 6,000 Ukrainian prisoners in Russia. This applies to those who were captured together with her in Mariupol. But also civilians who have been arrested in the areas that Russia has occupied in Ukraine. Among them the mayor of Kherson, Ihor Kolykhajev. LUCKY. These Ukrainian men were among the lucky ones to take part in a prisoner exchange on May 31, 2024. Photo: AP – The Russians use the prisoners and the negotiations about them as psychological pressure – as torture of Ukrainian society. – It is a way to scare us and the international community, by demonstrating indifference and unwillingness to negotiate, believes Iuliia Paievska. In March 2024, the UN published a report documenting systematic torture – and also executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war. But the report also gave examples of Ukraine breaking international rules for the treatment of prisoners of war. Among other things, by publishing interviews and showing the prisoners with their full names and photos. THE FEMALE FACE OF WAR. Iuliia Paievska has been a volunteer sanitary soldier in Ukraine since 2014. Photo: AP – Sees us as legitimate targets Iuliia Paievska came to Oslo straight from the front in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. Because immediately after she was set free from Russian captivity, she set about what she had been doing for 10 years: Helping wounded soldiers and civilians away from the war. BIG NEED. Every day, hundreds of soldiers and civilians are wounded in the war in Ukraine. Photo: The Ukrainian presidential administration – But it’s a dangerous job, she says, and shows us a picture of a burning ambulance. – The Russians see us sanitary soldiers as legitimate targets, says Paievska. She does not want us to publish the picture. PICTURES FROM THE WAR. Iuliia Paievska came to Oslo straight from the hard fighting in the Kharkiv area in eastern Ukraine. Photo: Monica Ruiz Biern/news Many ambulances are destroyed in the war. – That is why we are very happy about all the ambulances and cars we have received from Norway, says Paievska. Hard to forgive Her story and photos from Mariupol have made her an international celebrity. That is why she has traveled a lot, including in Europe and the USA, to talk about the consequences of the Russian aggression against her home country. CELEBRITY. On 14 December 2022, Iuliia Paievska received the Council of Europe’s Sakharov Prize together with several others. Photo: FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP To news, she will only answer in Ukrainian, even though her family background shows how complicated and tragic this war between Russia and Ukraine is. She was raised with her grandfather Konstantin Chubukov, who was one of those who survived the German siege of Leningrad. STRAIGHT FROM THE FRONT. This photo of Iuliia Paievska was taken at the end of May during a trip to the front in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine. Photo: Morten Jentoft / news Now Iuliia Paievska does not know how it will be possible to rebuild relations between Russians and Ukrainians in the future. – I don’t know how many years it will take for Ukrainian society to forgive. It’s really impossible to forgive, but maybe we can find the strength to start talking again. – But it is very difficult, says Iuliia Taira Paievska, before she lights another cigarette. Are you interested in more content from news abroad? Listen to this one: Published 11.06.2024, at 19.44
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