Harrowing evidence

A celebrated Ukrainian medic recorded her time in Mariupol on a data card no bigger than a thumbnail, smuggled out to the world in a tampon. Now, she is in Russian hands, and Mariupol itself is on the verge of falling. Yuliia Paievska, who as a medic went by Taira, used a body camera to record 256 gigabytes of footage on her team's frantic efforts over two weeks to bring people back from the brink of death. She got the harrowing clips to an Associated Press team, the last international journalists in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, as they left in a rare humanitarian convoy. Russian soldiers captured Taira and her driver the next day, March 16, one of the many forced disappearances in areas of Ukraine now held by Russia. Russia has portrayed Taira as working for the nationalist Azov Battalion, in line with Moscow's narrative that it is attempting to "denazify" Ukraine. But the AP found no such evidence, and friends and colleagues said she had no links to Azov. The … [Read more...] about A Ukrainian medic recorded harrowing scenes in Mariupol on a tiny bodycam. Now she is in Russian hands.

In a makeshift operating theatre in Mariupol, a celebrated Ukrainian medic pleads with a critically-wounded and bloodied boy to “stay with me, little one”. He had arrived with his wounded sister from a shoot-out at a checkpoint in the town besieged by Russian forces and in which their parents both died. Using a body camera given to her by Prince Harry, Yuliia Paievska, known in Ukraine as Taira – a moniker from the nickname she chose in the World of Warcraft video game – films the tragic moment when she closes his eyes with her fingers. Turning away from his lifeless body, the medic breaks down in tears. “I hate [this],” she sobs, closing her eyes. As always, she has a stuffed animal attached to her vest to hand to any children she might treat. Such terrible scenes would never have reached the wider world had Taira, 53, not managed to smuggle hundreds of hours of footage out of Mariupol – on a data card no bigger than a thumbnail – in a tampon. It … [Read more...] about Watch: Mariupol medic’s hospital footage smuggled from war zone

A captured volunteer medic's bodycam footage shows the horrors taking place in the ruined city of Mariupol after it was smuggled out in a tampon. Yuliia Paievska is referred to as Taira in Ukraine, a moniker from the nickname she chose in the World Of Warcraft video game. Using a body camera, the 53-year-old recorded 256 gigabytes of her team's frantic efforts over two weeks to save people from the brink of death. The bodycam was given to her in 2021 for a Netflix documentary on the Invictus Games , where she was meant to be competing, but she ended up using it to document a warzone instead. Ukraine news live: Putin won't release vital food stocks to world until sanctions are looked at Advertisement She managed to get the harrowing clips to journalists from the Associated Press as they left the city in a rare humanitarian convoy. The data card was hidden inside a tampon, and the team passed through 15 Russian checkpoints before reaching … [Read more...] about Ukraine war: Captured medic’s bodycam footage shows first-hand horror of Mariupol