In March 2022, 30-year-old Rebekah “Beka” Maciorowski left Knoxville, Tennessee and travelled more than 8,000 km to Ukraine.
As soon as she heard the news that Russia had launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Beka knew she wanted to help Ukrainian people. Up until then her only connection to the Slavic world had been her last name, Maciorowski – her ex-husband’s great-grandfather was from Poland.
As a civilian in the US, Rebekah worked as a paramedic for over 10 years, volunteering as a medic in Venezuela, Mexico and Guyana in her free time.
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Now Beka works as a combat medic in the 53rd Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Prince Volodymyr Monomakh. She is deployed to the Toretsk front.
Our first video call took place against the constant sound of artillery shelling on her side. Early on in our conversation, Beka warned me that she was on duty at a stabilisation point; injured soldiers could be brought in at any moment, she said. That was exactly what happened. Thirty minutes into our call, she had to leave to help wounded soldiers.
We next talked several days later. Although we spoke in English, Beka peppered her conversation with Ukrainian and Russian words. When talking about what she’s been through during the war, for example, she’d repeat: “It’s pyzd*ts [shit].”
Beka: With the soldiers we speak like this: “chut-chut russkii” [a little bit of Russian], “chut-chut ukrainskii” [a little bit of Ukrainian], “chut-chut angliiskii” [a little bit of English]
All photos: Yan Shypula, Press Officer for the 53rd Separate Mechanised Brigade
Russian propaganda regularly reports that Beka (who they refer to as an American mercenary) is dead. The first time the Russians claimed they had killed Beka was in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, in December 2022.
“I’m shocked first. And then I’m angry. I’m like, I’m not dead,you stupid motherf**kers. I’m alive. One time they [the Russians] said I was a female sniper. And they said they killed a famous American sniper, and I said ‘What the f**k? What the f**k are you doing?!’ It’s so stupid. Now I ignore it. For me, this is just khu*nya [bullshit],” Beka says.
Rebekah spoke to Ukrainska Pravda about why she decided to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine when the full-scale invasion started, how she overcomes the language barrier to talk to her brothers-in-arms, and the things she finds surprising about Ukrainian…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Ukrainska Pravda…