A Ukrainian field doctor captured horrific images in embattled Mariupol. With a head camera, she filmed the everyday suffering and gave the data to journalists. Now Taira, as she is called, is in Russian captivity.
They are images that show the horror of war first-hand: 256 gigabytes of material filmed over more than two weeks in the embattled Ukrainian city of Mariupol, injured soldiers and civilians, a boy losing the fight to death. She was taken in by field doctor Yuliia Paievska, known only as “Taira” in her native Ukraine. We can see these images because Taira released them to associates from the Associated Press (AP) news agency, the last independent journalists still reporting from the city in early March. The reporters smuggled the memory card, no bigger than a fingernail, in a tampon through 15 Russian checkpoints into Ukrainian-controlled territory.
The recordings are from the first days of the war, at the end of February at the beginning of March. They show how Taira fights for many lives with her colleagues. And it’s not always just about soldiers. According to the AP, several hours of footage show doctors treating wounded children, including a pair of siblings. The pictures show the boy dying despite the treatment and Taira crying against a wall in the operating room.
Other pictures show how she treats Russian soldiers, even against resistance from her compatriots. In a dialogue with a woman, she explains that she doesn’t think the Russians would treat her the same way. But as a doctor, you have no other choice. “They are prisoners of war,” says Taira. For example, she puts a blanket around a Russian soldier in a wheelchair because he was shaking. A Ukrainian soldier interrogates the young man, who claims to be from the Moscow region, and asks him why he came to kill Ukrainians. Taira pats the Ukrainian soldier on the shoulder and says: “It’s enough, officer.” Elsewhere, a handcuffed Russian soldier is roughly grabbed by a Ukrainian, after which Taira tells him, “Calm down, calm down.”
Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira, is a star in Ukraine
Taira, 53, is a celebrity in Ukraine, a competitive athlete and has coached a nationwide squadron of volunteer paramedics. During the recordings, she repeatedly jokes to cheer up the injured, calls her patients “sunshine” and “sweetie” and usually has a stuffed animal with her in case she has to look after children.
On March 16, just days after Taira handed over her footage to journalists, she disappeared with her driver. A little later, the Russians announced their arrest in the state media. She tried to escape from Mariupol in disguise. Russia accuses her of working for the nationalist Azov Battalion. In the logic of the Russians and their supposed “denazification” of Ukraine, Taira is a legitimate prisoner of war.
According to the AP, it was screened on Russian television on March 21. In the recordings she looks tired and battered and reads a message that is held out to her under the camera, in which she advocates an end to the fighting. A voice from the off equated her and her colleagues with Nazis. It is the last sign of life from Taira.
During the Ukraine war, both sides repeatedly dragged prisoners of war in front of cameras and had them read statements or answer questions, even though international humanitarian law actually condemns this practice as inhuman and unworthy.
The United Nations reports many kidnappings
According to research by the Associated Press, Taira is not a member of the Azov Battalion and has no connection to the sometimes controversial fighters. The hospital where many of the recordings from Mariupol were taken is therefore not related to the battalion. In the videos themselves, Taira can also be seen treating Russian soldiers.
The Ukrainian doctor is just one prominent case among many. In early May, the United Nations counted more than 200 kidnappings from Russian-occupied territories, including 169 men, 34 women and a boy. Some of those abducted are said to have been tortured or ill-treated, and some were later found dead.
Taira probably still in Russian captivity
According to the AP, Ukraine tried to add Taira to the list in a prisoner exchange a few weeks ago, but the Russian side claims she is not actually being held in Russia. Although her arrest had been reported on Russian television and there was even a video of her in Russian captivity. The Ukrainian government declined to comment on the case.
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Source: Stern
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