Olga Semidyanova
(Picture: Handout)A heroic Ukrainian mother-of-12 has been killed fighting Russian soldiers on the frontline.
Olga Semidyanova, 48, was fatally shot as she fought Russian troops near Donetsk in the south of the country on March 3.
Ms Semidyanova was shot in the stomach during fierce fighting on the frontline which wiped out most of her unit, according to The Sun.
Due to the ongoing conflict, her family has been unable to retrieve her body from battlefield although her daughter praised her mother for her selfless bravery.
“She saved the soldiers to the last,” Ms Semidyanova’s daughter Julia said.
“We have photos from the place of death but due to heavy fighting we still can’t bury my mother.”
As well as having six of her own children, Ms Semidyanova also adopted six from a local orphanage in her home city of Marhanets.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the country’s Interior Ministry, said: “She was slain in a confrontation with Russian thugs.
“Even when she believed her regiment might not survive, she emphasised her desire to protect the country until the end. She is a national hero. She is a hero to me.”
As the war rages, funerals have been held across the country for Ukraine’s fallen soldiers.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials claimed 1,300 of its soldiers had been killed since Russia invaded.
In one of the worst air strikes since the war began, Lviv Governor Maxim Kozitsky claimed 35 people had been killed following an attack on a military facility close to the border with Poland.
According to the United Nations, 726 civilians have now been killed with a further 1,174 injured as of March 16.
After attacks on civilian targets, including a maternity hospital and a theatre in Mariupol, Joe Biden labelled Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”.
A tweet from the US President’s official account later said: “Putin is inflicting appalling devastation and horror on Ukraine — bombing apartment buildings and maternity wards.
“Yesterday, we saw reports that Russian forces were holding hundreds of doctors and patients hostage.
“These are atrocities. It is an outrage to the world.”
