Blue hair, drones, and evac crews: Ukraine’s fallen women fighters (Part 1)

Four years ago, most of these women fighters had never fired a gun or held a weapon in combat. By the time they died, they were operating some of Ukraine's most sophisticated military equipment. All of them were killed while serving in frontline combat roles when Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Their ages ranged from 22 to 52. Their deaths span the full spectrum of modern warfare: drone operators, combat medics, reconnaissance scouts, evacuation specialists. Some were career soldiers; others learned military skills after February 2022. Their stories reveal how Ukraine's war has quietly revolutionized military service. Civilians became drone pilots. University students became battlefield medics. Mothers learned reconnaissance. They died performing jobs that placed them in the most dangerous areas of combat - from evacuation routes under artillery fire to reconnaissance missions in contested territory. Their call signs and nicknames became known to their units not as curiosities, but as soldiers who had mastered their roles and died performing them.

The medic fighter who refused to leave

Two days into Russia's invasion, Inna Derusova could have stayed home. The 52-year-old senior sergeant had just returned from vacation when the bombs started falling. Instead, she reported to her medical unit near Okhtyrka in Sumy Oblast and began treating wounded soldiers under artillery fire. On 26 February 2022, just two days after the full-scale invasion, Russian shells hit her aid post. Derusova had already saved more than ten soldiers that day. She died treating the wounded, becoming the first woman to receive Ukraine's highest honor - Hero of Ukraine - posthumously awarded by President Zelenskyy. Her career began in 2015, long before anyone imagined this full-scale war. By 2022, she headed a medical unit and trained frontline medics. The invasion found her exactly where she chose to be: holding the line.

From university to the trenches

Anastasiia Marianchuk was studying Japanese at Kyiv's Taras Shevchenko University when Russia invaded. The 22-year-old took a sabbatical in 2022 - not to flee, but to volunteer as a combat medic. Her call sign "Troia" became known throughout the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade's first rifle battalion. She served around Kyiv, then moved to the Donetsk front. On 18 March 2024, she was evacuating wounded soldiers under heavy fire near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast when enemy shells hit her vehicle. Marianchuk had planned to teach Ukrainian in Japan after the war. Instead, her classmates held an art exhibition of her drawings after her funeral. She was 22 when she died - old enough to choose the fight, young enough to dream of what could come after.

The mother who learned to fly drones

Liudmyla Shkurenko spent the early months of the war as a volunteer, like thousands of Ukrainian civilians. But the 43-year-old mother of two from Kyiv Oblast wanted to do more than pack humanitarian aid. She learned to operate UAV systems, then formally enlisted in the Ukrainian Army in May 2024. Assigned to a mechanized battalion as a reconnaissance scout and gunner, she deployed to the Kupiansk area in Kharkiv Oblast. On 29 May 2024, Shkurenko texted her husband before a night mission, promising to stay safe. It was the last message he received. Enemy shelling struck her unit during the operation, and she died from the wounds. Her funeral in Ukrainka, Kyiv Oblast drew neighbors who remembered her as a devoted mother; her unit remembered her as a soldier who had mastered new skills to fight more effectively.

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The IT recruiter turned battlefield angel

Yana “Yara” Rykhlitska worked in civilian IT recruitment before February 2022. After the invasion, the 29-year-old began volunteering with medics and refugees. By late 2022, she had formally joined the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Mechanized Brigade and served at a first-aid post during the Battle of Bakhmut. Her colleagues called her the "Angel of the Fighters" for her work treating the wounded. On 3 March 2023, she was evacuating injured soldiers in a clearly marked medical vehicle when Russian artillery struck near Bakhmut. The shells killed her during the evacuation. At her funeral in Vinnytsia, her parents asked mourners to donate to military medics rather than the family - a final reflection of Rykhlitska's priorities.

The decorated veteran

Some of these women were career soldiers. Mariia Vlasiuk had served since 2016, long before the full-scale invasion. The college-trained nurse from Rivne Oblast deployed with the 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade to multiple regions during 2022 - Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv. In April 2022, Ukraine awarded her the Order For Courage (3rd class) for evacuating dozens of wounded soldiers under fire. She had saved hundreds of lives by the time she deployed to Luhansk Oblast for what would be her final rotation. On 24 May 2022, Vlasiuk was traveling to pick up injured comrades near Bilohorivka when Russian forces hit the evacuation convoy. Shrapnel from the artillery barrage killed the 27-year-old medic instantly.

The veteran medic from Transcarpathia

Nataliia "Babochka" Bokoch had worked as a paramedic and emergency medical technician for over two decades before the war. The 46-year-old mother of two from Khust in Zakarpattia Oblast even trained with the Red Cross in Britain. She was fondly known as "Babochka" (Granny) among her comrades-in-arms. In 2023, she returned from Hungary and enlisted in the Ukrainian Army as a military medic. Regional media in Transcarpathia reported that she "tragically died on the front line" in early 2024 while serving with a medical evacuation unit, though military officials did not release specific details about her death during combat operations.

The blue-haired drone ace with the cat’s ears

Kateryna "Meow" Troian's call sign suited her personality, but her skill made her legendary. The 32-year-old had flown over a thousand successful combat missions for Ukraine's 82nd Separate Air Assault Brigade. But Russian forces killed her on 8 June 2025 near Pokrovsk. Troian joined Ukraine's Air Assault Forces in 2023, when FPV drone warfare was still evolving from hobby technology into a decisive battlefield tool. She learned to pilot first-person-view drones - small, agile aircraft that operators control through video feeds, often flying them directly into enemy targets. Her distinctive blue hair made her stand out among the paratroopers, but her flight record made her invaluable. Over a thousand successful missions meant she had engaged Russian positions more times than most soldiers fire their rifles. Fellow drone operators considered her among the best FPV pilots in the brigade. Troian's service took her from Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region to combat operations in Russia's Kursk area. On 8 June 2025, she was conducting a mission near Pokrovsk when her unit came under heavy artillery fire. She died of her wounds at Mechnikov Hospital after her evacuation ambulance took direct hits.

What their deaths reveal

The deaths of these women fighters weren't mere anomalies. Ukraine's military has has integrated women into combat units, artillery, reconnaissance, and medical corps in growing numbers since February 2022. Official casualty reports list hundreds of servicemembers killed in action - a toll that includes an increasing number of women serving in frontline roles. The war found some of them in uniform already. Others chose to join the fight, learning skills from drone piloting to battlefield medicine. All seven died doing jobs that required them to operate in the most dangerous areas of the battlefield - from evacuation routes under artillery fire to reconnaissance missions in contested territory. Their call signs and nicknames - "Meow," "Troia," "Yara," "Babochka" - became known to their units not as curiosities, but as soldiers who had mastered their roles and died performing them.