Paramedics in Mariupol kidnapped by Russians
Daughter fights for mother's return
Russia kidnapped paramedics rushing to save survivors of the Mariupol theatre bombing, the teenage daughter of a missing volunteer has revealed.
Yulia Paevska was snatched by Russian troops while travelling into the scene of the bombing where some 1,300 women and children were sheltering in the besieged city.
Anna-Sofia Puzanova said her mother had stopped to treat a wounded civilian on March 16 who was attempting to escape Moscow's savage bombardment through a humanitarian corridor when she was captured.
“She was captured with her driver Serhiy, also a volunteer, driving an ambulance in a humanitarian corridor,” the 19-year-old said during a visit to Brussels.
Apart from appearances in Kremlin propaganda videos, Puzanova has not seen or heard from her mother since her kidnap.
Nor does she have any idea where her mother is being held or whether she is safe.
They last spoke days before her kidnap, when Paevska told her daughter about her work rescuing civilians as they attempted to escape the constant bombardment by Russian forces.
“I know that the Russian occupiers will torture them,” Puzanova said, as she struggled to find the words to describe her worries.
“Russian propaganda talks about her as a really dangerous woman, a killer, really violent, but that's not true,” she added.
Puzanova believes her mother is among the thousands of Ukrainians taken to concentration camps in pro-Russian breakaway regions of the country.
Paevska, whose nickname is Taira, is on a list of prisoners of war that the Ukrainian government is willing to swap for Russians they have captured.
But Moscow has repeatedly refused requests for her exchange.
As the founder of the volunteer ambulance corps, Taira's Angels, she is considered a prize for the Kremlin.
Since its formation in 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea, the organization is credited with saving over 5,000 lives and training more than 1,000 volunteer medics.
For her work, Paevska was made a Hero of Ukraine, the highest national title awarded to a civilian.
“She was not only saving the lives of our soldiers, our civilians,” Puzanova said.
“She was also fighting for my future and for Ukraine.”
The 19-year-old has made it her mission to not only fight for her mother's release, but the release of 500 Ukrainian women captured by Russian troops.
“This is my job now, this is my duty,” she said. “This isn't just about my mother, but the women, children and civilians detained illegally by Russia,” she continued.