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The Ukrainian medic who helped smuggle footage of the Russian attack on Mariupol out of the country has been freed from Russian captivity, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced.
Yuliia Paievska, known in Ukraine simply as Taira, her character name from the World of Warcraft video game, was freed by Russian forces on Friday, three months after she was originally captured.
Taira’s husband, Vadim Puzanov, told The Associated Press he was relieved his wife would be home soon.
This undated image, made available by Invictus Games Team Ukraine, shows Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira, a celebrated Ukrainian paramedic using a body camera to record her work in Mariupol while the port city was under a Russian siege. (Invictus Games Team Ukraine via AP) (Invictus Games Team Ukraine via AP)
“It was such a great sense of relief. It sounds like such ordinary words, and I don’t even know what to say,” Puzanov said.
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During a late night speech on Friday, Zelenskyi announced Taira’s release.
“We managed to free Taira, Ukrainian paramedic Yuliia Paievska, from captivity. I am grateful to everyone who worked towards this result. Taira is already home,” he said. “We will continue to work to free everyone.”
FILE – Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira, looks into a mirror and turns off her camera on February 27, 2022 in Mariupol, Ukraine. (Yuliia Paievska via AP) (Yuliia Paievska via AP)
Taira used a body camera she received last year to capture over 256GB of video of her and her team tending to wounded Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.
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The videos also showed Russian soldiers abusing Ukrainian civilians.
FILE – Smoke rises from Azovstal Metallurgical Combine in Mariupol during shelling, in Mariupol, area under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, May 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File) (AP Photo /Alexei Alexandrov , File)
She was a member of the Ukraine Invictus Games for military veterans, where she competed in archery and swimming. The body camera she used to capture the now widely shared footage was given to her in 2021 to capture footage for a Netflix documentary.
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After the Russian military invaded on February 24, she used the device to capture scenes from the war.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.