'Fantastic female warrior' – Drone operator Rayana killed fighting Russian forces

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Rayana joined the army voluntarily in 2024, becoming the first woman in the Chechen Sheikh Mansur Volunteer Battalion.

"Rayana," a female drone operator with the Chechen Sheikh Mansur Volunteer Battalion, has been killed in action, the battalion announced on Nov. 14.

"Two fighters from the Chechen Sheikh Mansur Battalion — our brother Khamza and our sister Rayana — were killed fighting Russian occupiers in Ukraine," the battalion wrote on its Telegram channel.

Military service for women in Ukraine is voluntary. Rayana joined the army voluntarily in 2024, becoming the first woman in the battalion.

Before joining the military, she taught Muay Thai and raised her son as a single mother.

"It's harder to be at the rear, because here (at the front) I know where the enemy is and I can do something about it. I'm doing everything I can to help," Rayana said in an interview with the United News telethon in 2024.

In 2024, Rayana was wounded at the front but returned regardless, according to her Instagram page.

Soldier Murad Nasirov said Rayana "was not merely a Muslim, nor merely a warrior — she was a person who made a choice and stood up to defend the land she considered her homeland."

"Her faith, courage, and self-sacrifice will remain in our memory forever," Nasirov wrote in an Instagram post.

Olha Konoval, who served alongside Rayana, remembered her as a devoted Muslim who looked after a mosque in the embattled city of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast.

Début de l'article, extrait de The Kyiv Independent. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.