Anastasia Blyshchyk is a Ukrainian journalist and correspondent, as well as a member of the Women’s Veterans Movement. In August 2022, Anastasia became a military officer: first, she served as a press officer in the Izyum battalion of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine, and now she holds the same position in the 47th separate mechanized brigade.

Before the Russian invasion of 2022, Anastasia worked as a reporter on the Espresso TV channel. Since 2020, she has also worked on the Ukraine and Ukraine 24 TV channels. It was at work that she met her fiancé, journalist and military officer Oleksandr Makhov.

On May 4, 2022, Oleksandr perished on the front line, near Izyum. Three months later, Anastasia put her work on hold and became a soldier herself; she learned to shoot, and trained as a combat medic to save her brothers and sisters in arms.

“My Sashko talked a lot about the war before, because he fought in the ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone – the official name of the war in Donbas from 2014 – Ed.) in 2015-2016. We talked every day about his experiences, and discussed the conditions there […] That is, I was ready for it, I knew where I was going. I was not afraid. Of course, today I don’t know where I will be tomorrow and under what conditions. But it doesn’t scare me.” – says Anastasia.

The war took the most precious person from her, so now Anastasia Blyshchyk considers it her duty to continue the work of her beloved. She does everything possible to make Oleksandr Makhov’s heroism known and remembered. When her military service is no longer needed, Anastasia plans to make a documentary about the war and write a book based on Oleksandr’s posts. She also keeps in touch with other women who have been widowed by the war.