Female Russian soldier killed by mortar strike in Mariupol
Frontline medic, Valentina Galatova, who was hit by mortar fire in the battle for Mariupol has died, She was the first female soldier Russia lost during the war in Ukraine.
Even though the mother-of-one, died last month, her death was only confirmed by Russian media yesterday.
The 27 year old was born in Siberia but moved to Voronezh, around 170 miles north-west of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, when she was young.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, she moved with her husband to Donetsk province which was occupied by pro-Moscow separatists where she gave birth to a son.
Her husband was killed while serving in the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic fighting Ukrainian forces in 2021.
Galatova volunteered for the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic and was sent into Ukraine and worked as a frontline medic as Russia bans women from frontline combat roles.
Galatova was almost certainly part of Russian units that have kept Mariupol under a brutal two-month siege that has near-totally destroyed the city.
Thousands of civilians, including children, are thought to have died during the siege amidst indiscriminate shelling by Russian forces.
On April 14 she was killed by mortar fire ‘while performing a combat mission’, according to Russian media in her hometown of Voronezh that reported the death.
Her son, now orphaned, is being taken back to Voronezh so he can be raised by his grandmother, the reports added.
Galatova studied psychology in Donetsk and graduated in January this year.
