This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The image went viral and was seen around the world, a symbol of the brutality of security forces in Belarus but also the resilience and bravery of protesters taking on an authoritarian regime.
It was August 2020 and the image showed a young woman sitting on the ground, her face and head covered with blood, being given medical attention.
The woman’s name was Maria Zaytsava, and she was then just 19 years old. She was among tens of thousands of people, many of them young, who had taken to the streets to protest the reelection of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, in a vote widely decried internationally as neither free nor fair.
The security forces responded with a brutal crackdown, arresting over 30,000 people, many of whom reported torture and ill-treatment while in custody.
On January 17, a day after her 24th birthday, Zaytsava died fighting for Ukraine.
Minsk Protests
Despite the objections of her family, in 2020, Zaytsava traveled from her hometown of Homel, in southeastern Belarus, to join the protests in Minsk.
On the evening of August 9, 2020, she was among the protesters gathered in downtown Minsk facing off against security forces.
“At some point, grenades flew at us, and they started shooting people with rubber bullets,” one eyewitness told RFE/RL’s Belarus Service. “There was shock, no one could understand what was happening, why they were doing it. There were explosions everywhere, and I saw lots of bloodied people.”
Zaytsava was at the front of the crowd when security forces attacked with water cannons, rubber bullets, and stun grenades.
“We stood peacefully, shouting,” Zaytsava later recalled of that night. “I remember they were [using water cannons] on us, and then there was an explosion and I was lying on the ground. After that I don’t remember anything…. I was blinded.”
The protesters were disoriented and badly injured and still facing the onslaught of the security forces. It was then that an RFE/RL photographer took a picture of Zaytsava, sitting quietly on the asphalt, visibly in shock and covered in blood.
The explosion left Zaytsava permanently deaf in one ear. She also suffered a brain hematoma and severe injuries to her eyes and face. “It’s clear that it changed me a lot,” she later said. “I’m still a little bit consumed by post-traumatic stress disorder.”
After several operations in Belarus, Zaytsava went to the Czech Republic for specialized treatment. There, she attempted to rebuild her life with the help of MEDEVAC, a program run by the Czech government that provides free medical care and assistance to people affected by humanitarian crises, conflicts, or natural disasters.
As she began to recover, she also began courses at the Czech Technical University.
Fighting In Ukraine
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Zaytsava found a new calling.
She initially volunteered to help Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic, but by spring 2023, she had decided to join the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, a Ukrainian military unit composed of foreign volunteers.
“She was so small, she didn’t have a weapon, so where should she go?” recalled Ales Petrouski, a senior medic in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion and Zaytsava’s commander.
That was how the Belarusian ended up in the medical unit. But that didn’t mean she was getting an easy ride, Petrouski emphasized. Whether you’re a medic or not, you’re still under fire in the trenches, he told RFE/RL’s Belarus Service.
Petrouski said that Zaytsava also took on responsibilities as a translator in the Foreign Legion because she spoke English, which was useful in a unit where not everyone spoke Ukrainian or Russian.
Connected Struggles
For Zaytsava, the struggle for freedom in Belarus and Ukraine’s fight against Russia were connected. She joined the volunteers in Ukraine partly, Petrouski said, because she wanted Belarus to be free.
“She was resentful that she was basically kicked out of the country, and she wanted to go back. It really knocked her off her feet — the fact that she had to leave Belarus,” Petrouski said.
Belarus is perhaps Russia’s staunchest ally, and Minsk has provided military and diplomatic support for Moscow. Lukashenka’s government has allowed Russia to use its military infrastructure and equipment, and permitted its territory to be used as a staging ground for attacks on Ukraine.
After spending time on the Ukrainian front, she returned to the Czech Republic after receiving an injury to her hand. But after looking for work, she decided to return to the Ukrainian front line for a second time in January 2024.
One year later, she was killed in action near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which had been captured by Russian forces in May 2023 and had since seen fierce fighting.
Writing to a close friend after her return to the front line, Zaytsava stated her wishes should she die: “In the military questionnaire, I indicated that I am an atheist. I don’t know if this will affect my possible burial, but I wouldn’t want to be buried under a cross.”
Members of Zaytsava’s unit told RFE/RL’s Belarus Service that, under Russian artillery fire, her fellow soldiers managed to evacuate her body from the battlefield.
“Gravely injured during the 2020 Belarus protests, she gave her life for freedom,” said Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya about Zaytsava’s death. She was, she said, “an icon of our revolution.”
