Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed gratitude on International Women’s Day to all the ladies who’ve fought or died for Ukraine because the battle with Russia continues.
Zelensky devoted his message to “all the ladies who work, educate, research, rescue, heal, battle — battle for Ukraine,” in addition to “all the ladies who gave their lives for our nation.”
A Ukrainian lady who not too long ago died, Yana Rykhlitska, was a 29-year-old paramedic working with the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade. She was killed on March 3 close to the embattled metropolis of Bakhmut, the nation’s protection ministry mentioned in a publish that includes a number of footage of Rykhlitska.
“She was evacuating the wounded when the automobile she was in received shelled,” the protection ministry mentioned. “Yana was a real hero, able to danger her life to assist others. Everlasting reminiscence and glory to our fallen heroes!”
One in all Rykhlitska’s associates, Tetiana Samsonova, who’s a volunteer, informed CNN on Monday that Rykhlitska labored at a stabilization level in Bakhmut, which “is a spot the place the wounded are being ready for the lengthy journey to the docs to make sure their survival.”
“A number of days earlier than she died, I texted to her, ‘maintain your self’. There was some sense of tension for her. Later I noticed that different individuals have been texting her the identical factor on the similar time,” she mentioned.
“The final time we spoke with Yana was the identical day she handed away, just a few hours earlier. I texted her and requested how she was doing. She replied, ‘enjoyable,’ which meant that there was plenty of work, and that ‘everybody was nonetheless alive’,” Samsonova mentioned.
Samsonova mentioned she met Rykhlitska eight years in the past.
“I taught her drawing. She had her personal distinctive magic. Even when she wasn’t carrying make-up or costumes. This, after all, helped her on the entrance. This magic, and her humorousness,” she mentioned.
“There have been three of us, volunteer associates. My buddy texted the following morning that Yana was gone. And my first thought was that I hated my instinct,” Samsonova mentioned.
“After we requested her dad and mom in the event that they wanted assist, they flatly refused. They mentioned that every one the cash individuals needed to boost would go to assist the Ukrainian military, similar to Yana needed,” she mentioned. “She was extraordinarily heroic. I do not know who amongst my acquaintances has finished extra for Ukraine than she has.”
Rykhlitska’s funeral was on Tuesday within the western-central metropolis of Vinnytsia, the place she lived earlier than the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion.