{"id":454737,"date":"2025-09-27T06:52:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T06:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/454737\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T06:52:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T06:52:21","slug":"russia-is-a-threat-to-the-whole-world-warns-ukrainian-war-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/454737\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia is ‘a threat to the whole world’, warns Ukrainian war hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paievska founded the volunteer ambulance corps \u2018Taira\u2019s Angels\u2019 at the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war<\/a> in 2014, a troop which has been credited with saving hundreds of lives. During the siege of Mariupol in March 2022, she documented her work with a body camera and smuggled the video out to reporters at the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The next day, Paievska was captured by Russians while assisting a wounded civilian. She was a prisoner of war for three months, freed in June that year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Yuliia Paievska speaking at the launch event of Indomitable Ukraine. Behind her is former prime minister Boris Johnson, who also spoke at the event. Image: PHA Group<\/p>\n

Paievska, who is a trained psychologist, described her experience while jailed. \u201cJust imagine everything that is meaningful to you and valuable to you. You are deprived of those things. You are in full isolation. You are in full suppression. For 24 hours, you are under torture or psychological pressure. They try to beat you.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour only possession is what you are wearing. Nothing is given to you. No toothbrush. No soap. Nothing. It is like medieval torture. It does not look like a modern prison<\/a> at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paievska says that she received medical treatment and has now rejoined her unit. She has been renowned as a symbol of resilience and heroism in Ukraine, but she says she does not feel that way. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people like me in Ukraine. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m outstanding or something special. I\u2019m just regular.\u201d<\/p>\n

She hopes that bringing Indomitable Ukraine to London will serve as a warning to people internationally about the threat of this war.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe shall warn you. We shall give you information. It\u2019s like a sickness. It\u2019s like a disease. Therapeutic methods could heal the situation in the world. The more time is wasted, the more serious surgical intervention will be needed. I hope to heal this disease. It is a threat to the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paievska urges people to support Ukraine and ask government representatives \u201cnot to let the world forget about this\u201d. \u201cI believe that if you do not do anything, if you stay idle and indifferent, one day you shall be driven out of your households and your home because Russians are going to destroy it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The launch event of the exhibition was attended by the Ukrainian ambassador in the UK and political figures, including former prime minister Boris Johnson<\/a>, who said in a speech that the UK and its allies lack \u201cthe will and the leadership and the sense of urgency\u201d to do more to help Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Johnson is well-liked in Ukraine for the support he offered at the start of the war.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ambassador for Ukraine in the UK alongside families of British and Ukrainian soldiers. Image: Geordie Petrie<\/p>\n

Indomitable Ukraine also honours British volunteers who went to fight for Ukraine who have died. Some of their families attended the launch event for the exhibition.<\/p>\n

Paievska says she feels the support from British people for Ukraine remains strong.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSupport has not decreased. It has become deeper. It has changed levels. There are fewer Ukrainian flags in London than there were before, but I feel British openness and support. It\u2019s not the flags that matter. What matters is that it is inside the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exhibition runs until 29 September\u00a0at The Vinyl Factory, 16-18 Marshall Street, London W1F 7BE, open daily 11am-6pm.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paievska founded the volunteer ambulance corps \u2018Taira\u2019s Angels\u2019 at the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,152661,2597,12,332,657,753,771],"class_list":{"0":"post-454737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-international-politics","11":"tag-military","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-russia","14":"tag-ukraine","15":"tag-ukraine-war","16":"tag-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115274943719781095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}