This is the moment the ‘Singing Soldier of Azovstal’ belts out a song and shows she is alive and well following rumors of her death.
The footage was filmed at the Azovstal iron and steel plant in the under-siege Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Fighters of the Azov Battalion, a unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, are currently holed up in the battered Mariupol plant.
The National Guard of Ukraine said on May 12: “Her singing conquered all of Ukraine. The video of combat medic Kateryna singing a march of Ukrainian nationalists has been seen by anyone who knows how to use the internet.
“A few days ago, it was reported that the Azovstal paramedic, Kateryna Ptashka, had died as a result of Russian bombing.
“However, Kateryna is alive and well! Her magical singing can be heard every day.
“She rescues wounded civilians and soldiers and promises to “shoot the knees” of anyone who writes about her ‘death’.”
Footage released earlier this week shows the Azov paramedic, aged 21, singing in a bombed warehouse with other soldiers.
Kateryna, who comes from the village of Sosnivka near Shums’k, graduated from music school and used to take part in different theatrical productions after joining the theatre company Suzirya.
Two years ago, Kateryna moved to Kyiv and got a job at a motorbike school. At the same time, she developed an interest in history and became politically active, joining a human rights group and taking part in protests.
Last year, she underwent training to become a paramedic and traveled to the war zone in Donbas to help the Ukrainian military.
She initially kept her role in the Donbas a secret from her parents and eventually told them when she was on the frontline.
Today, she cheers up her colleagues in the Azov Battalion with songs to lift their spirits and continue the stand against the Russian invaders.
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 79th day of the campaign.
From February 24 to May 13, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 26,900 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,205 tanks, 2,900 armored fighting vehicles, 542 artillery systems, 193 multiple launch rocket systems, 88 anti-aircraft systems, 200 warplanes, 162 helicopters, 2,042 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 405 unmanned aerial vehicles, 41 units of special equipment and 95 cruise missiles.
The Ukrainian military said Russia’s biggest losses yesterday were sustained in the Kurakhiv area.
The update comes as UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says Russian President Vladimir Putin is “humiliating himself on the world stage”.
And Russia is expected to up its bombardment of the Azovstal steelworks now that all civilians have been evacuated from there, say the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The metallurgical plant is the last area of the strategic port city of Mariupol not under Russian control.
