A well-known Ukrainian medical professional whose footage has been smuggled from the city under siege by Mariupol via the Associated Press team was freed by Russian forces on Friday, just three months after being taken in the streets of Mariupol.
Yuliia Paievska is referred to by the people of Ukraine in Ukraine as Taira, a name she chose to use in her participation in the World of Warcraft video game.
With the help of a body camera, she has captured two fifty-six GB of her team’s effort and it did only in two weeks to help the wounded including Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.
She gave the clips to the team of journalists, and one of them left with the hook embedded in a tampon on the morning of March 15.
Taira, along with a friend, was detained with a colleague by Russian forces on March 16, the same day that the Russian airstrike struck a theatre in the city’s centre and killed around 600 people, as per the findings of an Associated Press investigation.
It felt like a wonderful relief. It’s like hearing such normal words, but I don’t have a clue what words to use, the husband of Taira, Vadim Puzanov, said to The Associated Press late Friday and sighing deeply to manage his emotions. Puzanov claimed he had a conversation via phone with Taira, who was on a journey to a Kyiv hospital and worried about her wellbeing.
The family initially remained in the dark, hoping the negotiations would go as planned. However, the Associated Press spoke with him before publishing the video which was smuggled into their system and it eventually drew millions of viewers in the whole world and on some of the most popular networks in Europe and also in the United States. Puzanov expressed his appreciation for the coverage that demonstrated that Taira tried to help Russian soldiers, as also Ukrainian civilians.
Ukrainian president, whose name is Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the release of Taira in his speech to the nation.
“I’m thankful to everyone who helped me achieve this goal. Taira is home now, and we’ll keep working on getting everyone free,” he said.
Hundreds of well-known Ukrainians have been abducted or seized by journalists, local officials, activists, and human rights activists.
Russia depicted Taira as a member of an organization called the nationalism-oriented Azov Battalion, in line with Moscow’s assertion that it’s trying to “denazify” Ukraine. However, the AP did not find any evidence to support this, and her friends and colleagues claimed that they had no connection to Azov, which took an appearance in the Mariupol steel mill before hundreds of its soldiers were killed or captured.
