Heroes of Ukraine: Inna Derusova  saved lives until the very end

After air master Oleksandr Oksanchenko, the site introduces combat medic Inna Derusova, the first woman to be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

The sergeant was a combat medic in the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade named after Ivan Vyhovsky. She joined the Armed Forces in 2015 and together with her team performed tasks in Zoloty, Orikhovo, Verkhnotoretsky, Avdiyivka, Krymsky, Toretsky and Pisky.

On February 24, 2022, Inna Derusova returned from vacation to the place of service, but stayed for two days in Okhtyrka in the Sumy region. At that time, the peaceful city suffered numerous Russian blows, there were many wounded, whose lives she relentlessly saved. In those two days, she managed to save more than 10 servicemen. However, on February 26, a medic was killed in shelling while helping a wounded soldier under fire.

As her brother Petro Lysenko recalls, she not only saved lives, but also taught others to do so - many doctors who came to the war from civilian life received their knowledge from Inna Derusova.

"I had to see how in two weeks she made real medics out of those confused young girls, ready to perform tasks on the frontline. Inna swarmed around them like a hen. And she was very proud of her son,  Sashko, who also signed his contract in 2016, and began his military career in the unit where his mother served. Although he was a creative and dreamy young man who practiced tattooing in civilian life, within a year he became one of the best mortars in the battalion. He got married a few months ago. Inna was extremely happy," Petro said.

The title of Hero of Ukraine was awarded to Inna Derusova on March 12, 2022, for personal courage and heroism shown in defending the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath.