"I am not a grandmother, I'm a soldier": 72-year-old Azov medicine told about service and Russian captivity
About the service in the army, the benefit of older people on the front and her life philosophy, which helped to survive the Russian captivity, the military service told in an interview with Hromadske. "I think that today I am the oldest military not only in the National Guard, but also in the whole Ukrainian army. I was in one tank unit my peer, Kuzmich, so well played on the accordion, but he was not already, he died," Tatiana said. It is not the first time in hostilities.
In 1980, Tatiana worked as a civilian nurse in the rear in Afghanistan, as part of the Soviet troops. She assisted the wounded before they were sent to the hospital. "I wanted to find out what I was capable of. I hoped that there would be some new challenges in the army," Tatiana explained her decision to go to Afghanistan. In 2013, the woman did not stay away on the Maidan.
After duty in the maternity hospital in her 62 years, she provided medical assistance to injured Maidans in the medical center in the October Palace. When the Maidan participants began to create volunteer detachments for the defense of the Donbass, Tatiana dreamed of joining them, but did not believe that she was physically capable of carrying out such loads. "The ATO began, I was baked by all those events - Ilovaysk, Mariupol, Debaltseve.
In Mariupol I just fell in love then, I did not miss a single report from the city. Mariupol then managed to defend, he was rapidly Ukrainized - I wanted to become part of his life. In Mariupol. So when she called a godson who served in Azov and offered work at their medical center, Tatiana did not hesitate. She dreamed of this opportunity for a year, so she took on a maternity leave and went to Mariupol. Since 2015, Tatiana Teplyuk has headed the Azov medical center.
Her position was civil, although she wore a military uniform and adhered to the charter. When the Russian Federation began a full -scale invasion of Ukraine, the doctor was 70 years old. She did not leave Azov, together with the soldiers spent a moon surrounded by Azovstal. She worked at the health center and in the kitchen and with everyone waited for a miracle. The work helped her to keep psychologically.
In March 2022, Azov commander informed Tatiana that she was mobilized from now on, so she was captured by the Russians on May 17 with Azovstal as a military personnel. "My greatest fear was to die. She noted that he was surprisingly easier for her than younger brothers. Tatiana told that she tried not to think about the bad, to perceive the circumstances as they were, and to do everything to survive and not to remain crippled.
According to her, neither in the colony in Occupied Olenivka, nor in Russian Taganrosis, she has never even hurt her head. Tatiana returned home on New Year's Eve 2023. She recalls that she didn't even think about vacation. She was only afraid that she was demobilized through age. Already in September 2023, she returned to her brigade. Her son also serves in Azov, and Tatiana is not set to return to civilian life to victory. "And it will be visible there," the medicine added with a smile.
The serviceman said she never thinks of old age and calls herself old. "I have no grandchildren, so nobody calls me a grandmother. We are who we think. I am not a grandmother, I am a soldier. Young fighters do my work, and I am my own. My brothers were stunned when they learned after captivity How old I am, ”Tatiana said. We will remind, on December 27, the junior sergeant Stepan from the 44th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces told in an interview how he managed to "tame" Leopard 1A5.