Former Journalist Sharhovska Dies After Years Evacuating Wounded in Ukraine
Olena Sharhovska, who served with the Hospitallers and the International Legion, died at 39 after working as a paramedic, journalist and advocate for women in uniform.
By Larissa Shah ·
Ukrainian veteran Olena Sharhovska, who left a media career to treat soldiers on the front line, has died, according to Hospitallers commander Yana Zinkevych and colleagues at Novynarnia.
Zinkevych announced her death in a statement. No cause or date was given. Sharhovska worked as a journalist, translator, editor and social media specialist in television and print before she began volunteering in 2015 with the First Volunteer Mobile Hospital named after Mykola Pyrohov, then moved to the Hospitallers medical battalion. She later served with the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after joining on 10 September 2022, her birthday, while she was in Portugal recovering from an injury that had prevented her from returning to Ukraine at the start of the full-scale invasion.
Zinkevych described her work in a statement: "Having mastered tactical medicine, Jane went to evacuate the wounded from the hottest sections of the front line, snatching the lives of our soldiers from the jaws of death on the way to stabilisation points." Sharhovska was deployed to Bakhmut, Toretsk and Kharkiv Oblast, where she carried out medical evacuations and trained other service members in tactical medicine. She was discharged in August 2024 for health reasons.
Sharhovska also campaigned for women to serve in the armed forces on the same terms as men. In 2016 she co-organised the Invisible Battalion March in Kyiv, where participants called on authorities to open to women military positions previously reserved for men. As a member of the Women's Veteran Movement she pushed for female defenders to receive proper equipment.
Novynarnia, where she had worked, remembered her as "a person of words and travel, with a deep interest in the world and in people." The outlet said she raised funds and bought vehicles for the front after her discharge. Her motto, it reported, was: "Do what you believe needs to be done, and then come what may."
Bohdan Lohvynenko, a serviceman, journalist, writer and founder of Ukraїner, also paid tribute. He recalled that they lived in neighbouring buildings in Vynohradar and often discussed editorial matters in one of their kitchens. In his words, she was an enormous source of support and a driving force behind many processes, while remaining quite harsh towards the unknown. Sharhovska also contributed to projects for Ukraїner and Osvitoria.
Ukraine's Armed Forces have opened combat roles to women since the 2016 march, though equipment shortages for female service members have been documented by advocacy groups. The Hospitallers, a volunteer medical battalion, has evacuated wounded soldiers from front-line positions throughout the conflict.
