Jean-François Ratelle

A man who introduced himself as a French journalist pulled out a pistol and shot Adam Osmayev. Amina Okuyeva returned fire. That day, she saved her husband's life. Less than five months later, their car would come under fire again — and this time, Amina would be killed. Today, October 30, marks nine years since the death of Amina Okuyeva — a surgeon, a volunteer fighter, and a defender of Ukraine. She was born in Odesa and spent part of her life in Moscow and Grozny. According to her own account, she had been helping the Chechen resistance during the Second Chechen War since 1999. She never revealed the details. But that experience shaped her choice of profession. Wounded fighters were dying from injuries that could have been treated with surgery. There was a desperate shortage of doctors, and transporting wounded soldiers to hospitals was often impossible. Amina decided to become a surgeon. In 2003, she returned to Ukraine. She graduated from Odesa Medical University and completed her residency in general surgery. When the Revolution of Dignity began, she traveled to Kyiv. She became a medic with the 8th Afghan Company of the Maidan Self-Defense forces. She treated the wounded, worked in the medical tent, and stood alongside protesters on Hrushevskoho Street. She later said that if she could turn back time, she would join the Maidan protests again. In July 2014, she volunteered for the Kyiv-2 Battalion as a paramedic. Her son, Shamil, remained with relatives in Odesa. He was 15 years old when his mother was killed. In eastern Ukraine, Amina carried out combat missions near Chornukhyne, in the Debaltseve sector. She trained as a sniper. She wanted to acquire as many skills as possible so that, if necessary, she could replace a fellow soldier and act decisively when others were overwhelmed. She helped establish the Dzhokhar Dudayev Chechen Battalion and became its spokesperson. She explained the experience of Chechen resistance to Ukrainians: both nations were fighting against the Russian Empire. She struggled deeply with loss. After the death of commander Isa Munayev, she spent a long time, in her own words, "putting herself back together piece by piece." She painfully missed his support. She loved the quiet banks of the Southern Bug River. A tent beside the water was all she needed to rest. She dreamed of seeing the Carpathian Mountains, but even during a trip to western Ukraine, she never managed to reach them. There simply wasn't enough time. When people treated her as an almost untouchable heroine, she felt embarrassed. She insisted that she was an ordinary person, with her own flaws and eccentricities. "I really do say what I think and feel. And I do what I believe is right." After the attack in June, the couple survived. But on the evening of October 30, 2017, near Hlevakha in the Kyiv region, their vehicle was ambushed and riddled with gunfire. Despite being wounded himself, Adam tried to help Amina and stop the bleeding. But her injuries were fatal. Among the theories investigators considered at the time were the involvement of Russian intelligence services and revenge by people connected to Ramzan Kadyrov for the couple's participation in the struggle against the Kremlin. She was just 34 years old. In accordance with her wishes, she was buried in Dnipro, near the grave of Isa Munayev. A surgeon who joined the military and mastered the skills of a sniper. Amina knew how to save the wounded and protect her comrades in battle. She never stopped learning, determined to be capable of doing more in a critical moment and helping whoever stood beside her. Her courage left behind lives that had been saved. Her service became part of the struggle that enabled Ukraine to withstand Russian aggression. Amina Okuyeva (1983–2017).