Olena Sharhovska, Hospitallers Medic and Journalist, Dies at 46
She joined the military on her birthday in 2022 and later served with the International Legion in Bakhmut, Toretsk and Kharkiv Oblast.
By Carmen Wojcik ·
Olena "Jane" Sharhovska, a paramedic with the Hospitallers medical battalion who previously worked as a journalist, editor and translator, has died. Yana Zinkevych, commander of the Hospitallers, and former colleagues at Novynarnia announced her death on 24 October 2026.
Sharhovska spent years in media before joining the front. She worked across television and print as a journalist, translator, editor and social media specialist, and contributed to projects for Ukraїner and Osvitoria. She began volunteering in 2015 with the First Volunteer Mobile Hospital named after Mykola Pyrohov, then joined the Hospitallers.
Zinkevych described her work in direct 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."
With other servicewomen, Sharhovska campaigned for women to hold the same military posts as men. She co-organised the Invisible Battalion March in Kyiv in 2016, where participants asked authorities to open to women positions then reserved for men.
When Russia began its full-scale invasion she was in Portugal, and an injury delayed her return. She volunteered from abroad until 10 September 2022, her birthday, when she enlisted. With the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine she served in Bakhmut, Toretsk and Kharkiv Oblast, carried out medical evacuations and trained other service members in tactical medicine. As a member of the Women's Veteran Movement she pressed for proper equipment for female defenders. She left the military in August 2024 for health reasons.
Novynarnia recalled her as "a person of words and travel, with a deep interest in the world and in people," and said she kept fundraising for fellow soldiers and buying vehicles for the front. Her motto, the outlet said, was: "Do what you believe needs to be done, and then come what may." Bohdan Lohvynenko, founder of Ukraїner, said they once lived in neighbouring buildings in Vynohradar and sat in each other's kitchens discussing editorial matters, calling her an enormous source of support and a driving force behind many processes.
