Ukrainian medic describes being tortured by Russian soldiers as a POW

Yuliia Paievska, known as Taira, poses for a photograph during an interview with The Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, July 8, 2022.

Evgeniy Maloletka | AP

Yuliia “Taira” Paievska, a Ukrainian volunteer medic, testified before the U.S. Helsinki Commission that she was tortured over three months in Russian captivity.

“When I was in captivity I was being tortured, and they tried to make me give a confession some kind about alleged crimes which I had never committed,” Paieyska said in a hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

“They didn’t care to know the truth. They just wanted me to admit guilt of for something I had never committed,” she said.

Paievska also detailed the treatment of some of her fellow prisoners, and described situations that appeared to violate Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of prisoners and civilians in war.

“Prisoners in cells, screaming for weeks from the torture and lack of medical help,” she told the lawmakers.

“A fighter who was beaten for three hours and then thrown into the basement like a sack, and only a day later someone come to him,” she said.

“Pregnant prisoners were well known to their relatives and to the state,” Paievska said in an apparent reference to women raped while in captivity.

“A dead child in its mother’s arms. A seven year old boy with bullet wounds, dying in my lap,” she said.

Russia has denied committing atrocities during its months long invasion of Ukraine. But international investigators have documented hundreds of cases of apparent war crimes, from torture and rape to mass executions.

— Christina Wilkie

US Navy assault ship takes part in Baltic Sea training

U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship, USS Kearsarge arrives in Stockholm, ahead of maritime focused training Baltops 22, in Stockholm, Sweden, June 2, 2022. 

TT News Agency | Reuters

U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge is taking part in international training in the Baltic Sea amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and tensions in the region.

The Kearsarge is the first ship of the Wasp class to take part in international training in the Baltic in at least two decades. Associated Press journalists visited the ship last week.

“It’s a first off for us in recent memory and it’s been very exciting,” said Capt. Tom Foster, the commanding officer of the Kearsarge.

With some other U.S. Navy ships, the Kearsarge has been training for several months with the militaries of Sweden and Finland, which formally applied to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The training mission is to promote safety and security in the region.

“In the past several months, we have been operating in the Baltics and in the Mediterranean,” said Capt. Aaron Kelley, commander of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group.

— Associated Press

Ukraine’s ‘hero medic’ testifies before the Senate Helsinki Commission

U.S. lawmakers are hearing testimony this morning from Yuliia “Taira” Paievska, a Ukrainian volunteer medic who gained a following early in the war for her dramatic videos of emergency medical workers on the battlefield.

Paievska saved the lives of 700 people during early days of the war, including children and Russian soldiers.

In March, Paievska was captured in Mariupol …….

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/15/russia-ukraine-live-updates.html