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As part of our continued effort to confront disinformation and reclaim historical truth, the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation is proud to share the untold stories of Ukrainian women whose courage shaped the course of World War II. While Russian propaganda still promotes the myth that the USSR—and by extension, Russia—won the war alone, history reveals a broader, richer reality.
Ukrainian women fought on the frontlines, resisted occupation, saved lives, and upheld human dignity in the face of unimaginable danger. From fearless medics and snipers to resistance fighters and rescuers of Jewish children, their stories reflect extraordinary bravery and sacrifice.
These women’s legacies belong not to empires, but to the global struggle for freedom, justice, and truth.
“Lady Death” of the Red Army: Liudmyla Pavlychenko
Known to her enemies as “Lady Death,” Liudmyla Pavlychenko is recognized as the most successful female sniper in history with 309 confirmed kills.
Liudmyla Pavlychenko was born in 1916 in Bila Tserkva, a Ukrainian city south of Kyiv, and moved to Kyiv with her family at the age of 14. In 1937, she entered Kyiv State University intending to become a teacher and took a job at a local arms plant. She also enrolled in a sharpshooter class, where she earned a marksman certificate and competed on the university track team.
At the start of the German invasion of the USSR, 24-year-old Pavlychenko was in her fourth year of study, but she went to Odesa to join the Soviet infantry. She was enrolled in the Red Army’s 25th Rifle Division, becoming one of the 2,000 female Soviet snipers, of which only 500 survived the war.
Pavlychenko fought on the frontlines defending Odesa and Sevasopil and became a very valuable asset obtaining a record of 309 confirmed kills and the nickname “Lady Death.” The German Army attempted to bribe her sending messages over radio loudspeakers: “Liudmyla Pavlychenko, come over to us. We will give you plenty of chocolate and make you a German officer”. In June 1942, while fighting in Sevastopol, she was wounded in the face by mortar shrapnel. After she fully recovered from her injuries, Pavlychenko was not sent back to fighting on the front lines but drawn to Soviet propaganda.
In late 1942, a highly decorated Soviet lieutenant, Pavlychenko, traveled to the United States on behalf of the Soviet Union in an attempt to rally American support for a second front in Europe. Pavlychenko became the first Soviet citizen welcomed to the White House, where she met First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, with whom she became lifelong friends.
The First Lady asked Pavlychenko to join her on a tour of the United States to speak to Americans about her experience as a woman in combat. Pavlychenko travelled across the United States, rallying for support and sharing her experiences from the front line. Liudmyla’s message was: “Gentlemen, I am 25 years old and I have killed 309 fascist occupants by now. Don’t you think you have been hiding behind my back too long?” During her tour, she also often spoke of the lack of racial segregation within the Red Army and gender equality.
After visiting the United States, Pavlychenko continued to promote a second Allied front in Canada and Great Britain. Upon her return to the Soviet Union, Pavlychenko was promoted to major, given the title Hero of the Soviet Union, and decorated twice with the Order of Lenin, the country’s highest civilian designation. Pavlychenko never returned to combat, but instead trained other Soviet snipers until the war’s end and went on to complete her studies at Kiev University and became a historian.
In 1957, Eleanor Roosevelt was visiting Moscow and would not leave without a visit to her old friend, Liudmyla Pavlychenko in her small apartment in Moscow to catch up and reminisce on the summer they spent together across the United States.
Unfortunately, as with many soldiers and living during the Cold War tensions, Pavlychenko many years suffered from PTSD and depression. In October 1974, Liudmyla Pavlychenko passed away after suffering from a stroke.
Olena Viter
Yevdokiia Zavalii
Read more about Yevdokiia Zavalii…
Olena Teliha
Oleksandra Shulezhko
Read more about Oleksandra Shulezhko…
Iryna Khoroshunova
Anastasiia Hulei
Read more about Anastasiia Hulei…
Mariia Babinchuk
Liudmyla Foia
Yevdokiia Lysenko
Read more about Yevdokiia and her sons…
Kateryna Zelenko
Mariia Shcherbatchenko
A Note from the Compiler
While working on this project, I came across a deeply troubling reality: there is shockingly little information available—especially in English—about the many remarkable Ukrainians, both military and civilian, who played key roles in defeating fascism during World War II. As a result, the global public remains largely unaware of Ukraine’s enormous contribution to the Allied victory.
What little information does exist is often flawed. Most of these individuals’ names are spelled incorrectly, having been transliterated from Russian rather than Ukrainian. In this project, I’ve corrected that injustice by using the official Ukrainian-to-Latin transliteration system. (It’s the same reason we now say Kyiv, not Kiev.)
But the most disturbing discovery was this: many of these heroes are now being claimed by Russian propaganda. Because Ukraine was occupied by the Soviet Union at the time, these individuals are often labeled as “Russian Soviet heroes” in Russian-language sources—an intentional distortion. Since the collapse of the USSR, Russia has tried to appropriate everything Soviet as inherently Russian, erasing Ukrainian identity in the process. The same tactic is used to claim Ukrainian scientists, composers, artists, and other prominent figures as Russian.
One example that struck me deeply is the story of Yevdokiia Lysenko, a mother of 16 children—10 of whom went to war, and all 10 returned home alive. Her story is now being used in Russian media as a tool to glorify sacrifice and encourage mothers to raise future soldiers for the Russian war machine.
Please take the time to read these stories. By honoring these extraordinary Ukrainians and sharing their legacy, we resist historical erasure and help ensure the truth is preserved for future generations.
Olena Liashenko
Creative Director of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation