Hospitallers Medic Sharhovska Dies at 46 After 25 Months of Service

Olena 'Jane' Sharhovska, a former journalist who spent 25 months serving as a frontline medic in Ukraine, has died at 46. Yana Zinkevych, commander of the Hospitallers medical battalion, and colleagues at the outlet Novynarnia announced her death.

Sharhovska worked as a journalist, translator, editor and social media specialist across television and print. She also contributed to projects for Ukraїner and Osvitoria before turning to medicine in 2015. She first volunteered with the First Volunteer Mobile Hospital named after Mykola Pyrohov and later joined the Hospitallers.

Zinkevych described her battlefield role: '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.'

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Sharhovska was in Portugal. An injury delayed her return, so she volunteered from abroad until 10 September 2022, her birthday, when she enlisted. Serving with the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, she was deployed in Bakhmut, Toretsk and Kharkiv Oblast, conducting medical evacuations and training other service members in tactical medicine. She was discharged in August 2024 for health reasons.

Alongside her medical work, she campaigned for women to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the same footing as men. She was a co-organiser of the Invisible Battalion March in Kyiv in 2016, where participants urged authorities to open to women military positions reserved for men. As a member of the Women's Veteran Movement, she pushed for female defenders to receive proper equipment.

Novynarnia remembered her as 'a person of words and travel, with a deep interest in the world and in people.' The outlet said she continued to fundraise and buy vehicles for the front. Her motto, it reported, was: 'Do what you believe needs to be done, and then come what may.'

Bohdan Lohvynenko, founder of Ukraїner, recalled that they lived in neighbouring buildings in Vynohradar and discussed editorial matters in each other's kitchens. He described her as an enormous source of support and a driving force behind many processes, while remaining quite harsh towards the unknown.