Olena "Jane" Sharhovska, a veteran of the Hospitallers medical battalion who also built a career in journalism and translation, has died. The news was shared by Yana Zinkevych, commander of the Hospitallers, and by Sharhovska's former colleagues at Novynarnia.
Before turning to medicine, Sharhovska had wide experience in the media. She worked as a journalist, translator, editor and social media specialist, and her career took in both television and print. She also contributed to projects for Ukraїner and Osvitoria.
From 2015, she devoted herself to saving lives. She first volunteered on the front line with the First Volunteer Mobile Hospital named after Mykola Pyrohov, and later joined the Hospitallers. Zinkevych described her work in vivid terms: "Having mastered tactical medicine, Jane went to evacuate the wounded from the hottest sections of the front line, snatching the lives of our soldiers from the jaws of death on the way to stabilisation points."
Alongside her medical work, the paramedic and her fellow servicewomen campaigned for women to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the same footing as men. Sharhovska was a co-organiser of the Invisible Battalion March, held in Kyiv in 2016, where participants urged the authorities to open to women military positions that had previously been reserved for men.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, she was in Portugal. An injury kept her from returning to Ukraine right away, but she supported the country as a volunteer from abroad. On 10 September 2022, her birthday, she joined the military.
Serving with the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sharhovska was deployed in Bakhmut, Toretsk and Kharkiv Oblast. Besides carrying out medical evacuations, she trained other service members in tactical medicine. As a member of the Women's Veteran Movement, she also pushed for female defenders to be given proper equipment. She was discharged in August 2024 for health reasons.
Novynarnia remembered her as "a person of words and travel, with a deep interest in the world and in people." The outlet said that despite the difficulties she faced, she kept her love of words and people, kept helping fellow soldiers through fundraising, and bought vehicles for the front. Her motto, it said, was: "Do what you believe needs to be done, and then come what may."
Bohdan Lohvynenko, a serviceman, journalist, writer and founder of Ukraїner, also paid tribute. He recalled that they lived in neighbouring buildings in Vynohradar and often sat in one of their kitchens discussing editorial matters. In his words, she was an enormous source of support and a driving force behind many processes, while remaining quite harsh towards the unknown.
