Valentina Pusic didn’t run away. In fact, she was killed this weekend while deliberately heading for the place of greatest danger.
A Ukrainian military paramedic, she was shot dead by Russian troops while trying to evacuate the wounded from the front line on the outskirts of this city.
Known to her friends as “Daisy” – Daisy – those who knew her described her as a “daredevil” who always “ran to the most dangerous places” to help others.
She was buried under a blanket of red roses, her grave covered in the blue and yellow of her country’s flag.
Daisy isn’t the only medical woman to have sacrificed herself in the past few days.
Valentina Pusic didn’t run away. In fact, she was killed this weekend while deliberately heading for the place of greatest danger. A Ukrainian military paramedic, she was shot dead by Russian troops while trying to evacuate the wounded from the front line on the outskirts of this city.
Dr. Marina Kalabina, an anesthesiologist, died when her car came under fire as she was taking her wounded nephew to the hospital from the village of Kukhari, 80 kilometers from central Kyiv.
Volunteer Anastasia Yalanskaya, 26, also died while delivering food to a dog shelter in Bucha, 32 kilometers from the capital.
“I asked her to be especially careful, because in our time a mistake is very expensive,” said her devastated husband Yevgeny Yalansky. “But she helped everyone around.”
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day. This year, the achievements and sufferings of women in Ukraine should be in the center of attention of the whole world.
One of the enduring images of this terrible war was the exodus of women and children. More than a million became refugees abroad.
Their men mostly stayed here to fight. But many women also remained actively resisting the Russian threat.
They are of all ages, from elementary school girls to retirees, and from all walks of life. They are united by love for the motherland and the desire to show it with something.
Dr. Marina Kalabina, an anesthesiologist, died when her car came under fire as she was taking her wounded nephew to the hospital from the village of Kukhari, 80 kilometers from central Kyiv.
Volunteer Anastasia Yalanskaya, 26, also died while delivering food to a dog shelter in Bucha, 32 kilometers from the capital.
Yesterday we met some of these extremely impressive females.
Between the two platforms of the “red” metro line, deep under the center of Kyiv, there are several tables on the goats.
Many stations are now being used as bomb shelters for civilians, and tables are covered with donated products: yogurt packages, biscuits, pastries, milk, fruit, walnuts, mineral water, and tea and coffee.
A sheet draped over one of the poles bears the handwritten message “Food for Children”. But among the volunteers who manage the enterprise, there are also children, or rather schoolgirls.
Karina is the daughter of one of the female metro station bosses. Both mother and daughter stayed in Kyiv and are making their contribution.
Kareena reminds me of my own youngest daughter, not least because she is 16 and a fan of Billie Eilish. She wants to go to law school and under other circumstances would now be studying for her exams.
“Fifty of my friends left Kyiv,” she says. “I decided to stay because my mother works here and I feel it is my duty to help in such a dark hour.”
Refusal to run: Volunteers Karina, 16, and nine-year-old Valeria
Next to her is nine-year-old Valeria. Why is she here helping? “It’s important to distribute food,” she explains.
“Because the people are already weak, and if they don’t have the strength, then we won’t win this war.”
What does she think of the Russian invasion? Valeria tries twice to articulate her feelings before giving up with a shake of her head. When you are sensitive and only nine years old, President Putin’s actions are especially inexplicable.
Before the war, 30-year-old Tatyana was the manager of a McDonald’s branch in Borshchagovka, a suburb of Kyiv.
Now she, along with her 35-year-old sister Elena, oversees the work of food distribution volunteers.
For nine days the brothers and sisters have been working around the clock. They sleep in subway stations. Today they started at 5 am.
“Yes, at first I was scared,” says Tatyana. “But in a telephone conversation with my parents, we agreed as a family that we cannot give up. The guys on the front line have a very hard time, and we ourselves have no right to retreat.
So I won’t go anywhere. This is my land, and I couldn’t sit quietly anywhere else at a time like this.”
Did she have a message for women outside of Ukraine who are watching her country’s agony unfold?
“Yes,” she says. “You have to stay strong and enjoy every second of your life and not be afraid of anything.”
On the fifth platform of the Kiev railway station, we find another unsung heroine.
The service to the city of Kharkov, which is now under siege and being heavily bombarded by Russian troops, should leave in ten minutes. At the open door of the carriage waiting for passengers at the last minute – there are very few of them – one of the train’s female guards. Her name is Lesya and she is 41 years old.
Her current journey began in Kharkov and took her close to the Romanian border and halfway back. Now it takes twice as long as in peacetime.
“We have to take a very long detour because the bridge we normally use has been destroyed by the Russians,” she explains.
“In the western direction, the train was crowded with women and children. Sleeping places are designed only for four people, but there were four times as many. It was impossible to move on the train.”
By the end of the trip, she will have been traveling and working for three consecutive days. Surely what awaits her in Kharkov, the last stop on her military odyssey, is a terrifying prospect. Dozens of civilians were reportedly killed in Ukraine’s second-largest city as a result of indiscriminate Russian shelling and rocket attacks. Why is she taking such a risk?
“I’m used to the situation,” Lesya shrugs. “In any case, Kharkiv is my home. And we must all do everything in our power to help Ukraine in these times.”
This feeling has become a mantra here.
This week the world will celebrate women’s achievement. The heroic women and girls who choose to stay in Ukraine and do their part, even if it means paying the highest price, are an example for all of us.