A Ukrainian doctor captured by Russian soldiers in Mariupol, a Russiancaptured city in southern Ukraine, managed to secretly film her team’s work to spend two weeks trying to rescue civilians and soldiers on both sides .
In a risky operation, doctor Yuliia Paievska turned over Associated Press images stored on a microchip in a tampon to the only foreign journalists in Mariupol during the Russian occupation. The next day, Paievska was captured by Russian soldiers.
Paievska’s daughter, AnnaSofia Puzanova, who remained unaware of her whereabouts for more than four weeks, appealed this week to the Russian government to release her mother and tell her where she is being held.
Moscow argues that the doctor was linked to the Azov Battalion, a group that is part of the Ukrainian army and which Russia accuses of neoNazism. Ukraine denies this, pointing out that the doctor is one of hundreds of people with no connection to the army who were captured by Russian forces in their absence.
A United Nations (UN) mission in Ukraine identified at least 204 cases of arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances by the Russian army of Ukrainians suspected of torture, not counting the cases in Mariupol, where the UN commission was unable to enter.
Associated Press officials who were in Mariupol said they heard reports from people close to Paievska who deny any connection to the Azov battalion.
The pictures taken by the doctor show her team’s efforts to rescue civilians hit by Russian bombing raids in the city, which has been the hardesthit by Russia since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. The records also show that doctors treated as many Ukrainian soldiers as Russians.
Moscow has not yet commented on the arrest of Yuliia Paievska.