FREE AT LAST

Russia Sets Free Ukrainian Medic Who Recorded Mariupol Mission

The medic recorded and transported video of her team saving injured Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.

Russian forces released a Ukrainian medic from prison Friday who recorded 256 gigabytes of footage in Mariupol using a body camera, documenting her team’s efforts to save wounded soldiers on both sides of the war, the Associated Press reported. Yuliia Paievska, better known in Ukraine as Taira, has been in captivity since her capture on March 16. That same day, a Russian airstrike killed about 600 people in a city center theater. Paievska’s footage reached millions of people across the world, the AP said. “It was such a great sense of relief. Those sound like such ordinary words, and I don’t even know what to say,” Paievska’s husband, Vadim Puzanov, told The Associated Press. Despite no basis or evidence, Russia claimed Paievska had ties to the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian group. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was glad to see Paievska return: “I’m grateful to everyone who worked for this result. Taira is already home. We will keep working to free everyone,” he said.