Olena Bilozerska

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Leonidivna and the family name is Bilozerska.
Olena Bilozerska
  • Олена Білозерська
Ukrainian SSR
CitizenshipUkraine
Alma materKyiv National University of Culture and Arts
Occupation(s)Political activist, journalist, sniper
AwardsOrder for Courage, III class
Military career
Years of servicefrom 2014
Battles/warsRusso-Ukrainian War

Olena Leonidivna Bilozerska (Ukrainian: Олена Леонідівна Білозерська; born 5 August 1979) is a Ukrainian sniper and journalist. She served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and in Ukrainian volunteer battalions during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Life

Prior to her military service, Bilozerska was a poet and a journalist.[1] In 2011, her apartment was searched by Ukrainian authorities and her electronic devices were confiscated. The search was decried by human rights groups as a violation of freedom of the press, as Bilozerska was not accused of a crime.[2]

Bilozerska saved money for two years to buy her rifle,

Ukrainian Volunteer Corps from 2014 to 2015.[4] She was first stationed in Dnipro, Ukraine, shortly after the onset of the Russo-Ukrainian War in April 2014.[5]

Bilozerska was involved in the movement to allow women to formally enlist in the Ukrainian military, which was legalized in 2016.[1][3] She served in the Ukrainian Volunteer Army from 2016 to 2017. She formally joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine as an officer in 2018,[4] and she served as the commander of an artillery platoon for two years in Donetsk.[3]

Bilozerska was featured in the 2017 Ukrainian documentary Invisible Battalion, bringing national attention to female soldiers.[1][3] She published her account of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Diary of an Illegal Soldier, in 2020.[6] Bilozerska's reputation has made her a common target of Russian web brigades,[3] and the Russian government has falsely announced her death on multiple occasions.[4]

Awards

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 1091-2339. Archived
    from the original on 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  2. ^ "Журналістку Білозерську обшукали й допитали". BBC News Україна (in Ukrainian). 2011-01-13. Archived from the original on 2022-02-25. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  3. ^
    ISSN 0882-7729. Archived
    from the original on 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  4. ^ a b c Osadcha, Yana (2022-04-17). ""Найкращі воїни – завжди роздовбаї". Снайперка Олена Білозерська про службу в ЗСУ та перспективи війни". Ukrainska Pravda. Archived from the original on 2022-10-30. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  5. ^ Feshchenko, Roman (2022-05-19). "Legendary sniper Olena Bilozerska on her war, enemy tactics". The New Voice of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 2022-10-09. Retrieved 2023-05-02.
  6. ISSN 1836-1803
    .
  7. ^ Pavlo Kushch. Government courier. (In Ukrainian). Олена БІЛОЗЕРСЬКА: «Навіть у бойові моменти не забувала, що я не тільки снайпер, а й журналістка».


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