The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
Yevheniia serves in the 39th Tactical Aviation Brigade and is responsible for the operation of radio-electronic equipment on combat aircraft.
Before the full-scale war, she was preparing to become a medic, but after February 2022 she radically changed her profession and retrained for a technical specialty in military aviation.
Her story was published on the brigade’s page.
Yevheniia is originally from the Dnipropetrovsk region. She grew up in a family of a teacher and a security guard. Although there were no military personnel in her family, her parents supported her decision to join the army.
After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the girl realized that she could not remain on the sidelines. Where medical protocols once existed, avionics schemes and algorithms of complex onboard systems appeared.
Now she works directly with aircraft and is responsible for communication systems.
“I am responsible for the ‘aircraft’s nervous system’ — the pilot’s communication with the command. Without this, successful execution of a combat mission is simply impossible”, — the servicewoman says.
According to Yevheniia, preparing an aircraft is teamwork where every check matters.
“We bring every little detail to perfection because we understand the price of this machine’s reliability”, — she says.
When the aircraft takes off, technicians feel a brief relief — the first stage of the mission has been completed. But the work does not stop: after returning, the aircraft must be inspected and, if necessary, immediately prepared for a new flight.
After two years of service, Yevheniia admits that aircraft have stopped being just machines for her.
Even outside service, when she hears the sound of an engine over the city, she involuntarily looks into the sky searching for the silhouette of a fighter jet.
In a team where most are men, the girl feels confident. She says the unit has become a second family for her.
Many more years of service lie ahead. Yevheniia’s greatest dream is a time when the roar of fighter jets will mean only training flights, not combat sorties. But for now — another equipment check and a new aircraft heading out on a mission.
