Female Combat Medic Destroys Russian Assault Group, Awarded for Heroism

Combat medic Svitlana from the 128th Territorial Defense Brigade, currently deployed in the Zaporizhzhia area, saved her fellow soldiers from an attempted enemy encirclement. Spotting the threat, she grabbed a grenade launcher and, with a precise shot, eliminated a group of advancing Russian troops, according to a statement from Ukraine’s General Staff on Monday, May 12.

Svitlana who before the war was a highly experienced intensive care nurse at the Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, volunteered for Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces at the start of the 2022 full-scale invasion,.

Like all soldiers of the 230th Battalion of the 128th “Dyke Pole” Territorial Defense Brigade she underwent extensive training at military ranges, practicing with various types of weapons, including grenade launchers. But, as she notes, training is one thing – facing real combat is something else entirely.

During a Russian assault involving armor and airborne troops, Svitlana was stationed at a company strongpoint. In a critical moment, when the unit was left without a commander, she stepped up and assumed the leadership of the group. Receiving instructions over the radio from the battalion commander – who was monitoring the battlefield via livestream video – she coordinated the actions of all soldiers on the position, effectively managing the defense.

The strongpoint was located amid the ruins of a village. Initially, Svitlana was fighting back alongside her comrades. But when it became clear the unit was surrounded – with a Russian group flanking from the rear and occupying a nearby house, cutting off retreat and ammunition resupply routes – Svitlana didn’t hesitate to grab a single-use grenade launcher.

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“I told the guys to hold their ground and not to leave their positions under any circumstances, or we’d be overrun. Then I took the grenade launcher and went straight toward the Russian assault troops. They had gotten too close – just two houses away. I flanked them, stood up, and fired into the window of the building. The entire group of occupiers stayed there,” Svitlana recalls.

Thanks to the resilience of Ukrainian defenders and Svitlana’s decisive actions, the enemy’s plan to encircle the position failed – the attack was repelled. The victory, won among the ruins of Staromaiorske, proved pivotal: just a few days later, the unit was able to rotate and safely withdraw from the frontline, according to the General Staff report.

“The guys told me: ‘You’re crazy!’ But what else could I have done at that moment? Wait for the enemy to kill us all?” she says.

Recently, the commander of the “”Dyke Pole” brigade awarded Svitlana the Cross of the Ground Forces.

“I even felt awkward – I already have two Golden Crosses of the first and second class, and many other awards. And there are people who’ve been nominated many times but still haven’t received one,” she adds.

Svitlana’s son, also a volunteer, was killed in fighting near Bakhmut. She made it her mission to save the lives of her fellow soldiers. So, after receiving her latest award, she returned to her battalion, which continues to hold the line in the Zaporizhzhia combat zone.