Yulia Paevska (“Taira”) testifies in front of the Helsinki Commission

Yulia Paevska (code name “Taira”) testified about the blockade in Mariupol and about the horrors of russian tortures in front of the U.S. Helsinki Commission on September 15, 2022. Oksana Makarova, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States of America, stated that Taira’s testimony “was a very powerful speech with the truth about the horrors of the Russian blockade of Mariupol and about the three-month stay in inhumane conditions in captivity of the occupiers, the unlimited brutality of the Russian terrorist invaders and called on our American friends to increase aid to Ukraine, increase pressure on Russia, help us protect not only Ukraine, but also the whole civilized world.” 

Paevska, a legendary Ukrainian paramedic and volunteer, a Ukrainian national hero and an Invictus Games bronze medalist in archery, was taken hostage by russians on March 16, 2022, and spent 94 days as a POW, witnessing and enduring harrowing tortures by the hands of russian terrorists. 

She developed a course on tactical medicine, which has been delivered to about 8,000 people, and organized a unit of volunteers, called later the Angels of Taira, which has evacuated hundreds of wounded servicemen from the line of contact and hundreds of civilians from the so-called “grey zone.” 

During her testimony in front of the Helsinki Commission, Paevska talked about the siege of Mariupol and atrocities committed there by russian miscreants. Paevska described the terrors that russian invaders were orchestrating in Mariupol and in the Donetsk prison, where she was held hostage: prisoners screaming from torture-inflicted pain, women holding the bodies of their dead children, unattended near-death patients in critical conditions, held in unhumane conditions. 

“This is very important evidence to (1) hold Russia accountable for all these crimes and (2) to draw attention to the need to increase joint efforts to release all defenders and civilians illegally captured and held by Russia in violation of all international norms,” said Oksana Makarova.