Russian media confirmed this week that Russian military doctor Galatova was killed in action in Ukraine.Figure: flipping Twitter
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with its superior military power has not progressed smoothly. Even the flagship “Moscow” of the Black Sea Fleet was sunk. Russian casualties are continuing to expand with military setbacks. Russian media confirmed this week that Russian female military doctor Valentina Galatova was killed in Ukraine, the first known female Russian soldier to be killed since the war began in late February.
Galatova was killed by mortar fire during the Russian siege of the port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, The Times reported. After Galatova was buried near Flonis, Russian media confirmed her death this week. Her husband was killed in fighting in Donetsk last year, and her eight-year-old son will be cared for by her mother.
The British “Daily Mail” reported that Galatova, 27, was born in Siberia and moved to Voronezh, more than 100 miles (regarding 160 kilometers) from the Ukrainian border, when she was a child. She and her husband moved to Donetsk, a pro-Russian breakaway region in eastern Ukraine in 2014, where they gave birth to their son.
Galatova studied for a degree in psychology in Donetsk, while her husband served in the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic, but was killed in a cross-border battle with the Ukrainian army in 2021, in February this year After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Galatova joined the pro-Russian separatist camp as a front-line medic. After 2 months of war, unfortunately on April 14, when he was carrying out a combat mission, he was shot and killed, leaving behind his only son, who will be sent back to his hometown to be raised by his grandmother.
The Russian army currently has 41,000 female officers and soldiers, accounting for only slightly more than 4% of the Russian army, and are not allowed to participate in front-line combat missions. There are regarding 4,000 female officers in the Russian army, and as of last year there were only 44 colonels. One of the reasons for the disparity in the ratio of males to females is that Russian women are exempt from military service. In contrast, the Ukrainian army accounts for 15% of women and can be engaged in combat missions. Several Ukrainian female soldiers have been killed so far, including 48-year-old Olga Semidyanova, who had 12 children and was shot dead at the Donetsk border in March.