b. c. 1991
Mariana Mamonova
Military medic, defender of Mariupol
She found out she was going to be a mother in besieged Mariupol. Military medic Mariana Mamonova spent half a year in Russian captivity while pregnant, came home in an exchange days before giving birth, and later set up a foundation for women who survived captivity.
Key accomplishments
- Military medic since 2017; head of the medical service of the 501st Separate Marine Battalion, 36th Brigade
- Treated the wounded in besieged Mariupol (2022)
- Came home from Russian captivity in the prisoner exchange of 21 September 2022
- Founded a charity that helps women after Russian captivity (2024)
- Kulczyk Foundation’s Portraits of Sisterhood award (2025)
News in a bomb shelter
Imagine being under siege and finding out you’re expecting a baby. That is what happened to Mariana Mamonova. She had been a military medic since 2017, and when the full-scale invasion began she was in Mariupol, heading the medical service of the 501st Separate Marine Battalion of the 36th Brigade. She learned she was pregnant in the besieged city, and she stayed with her battalion.
Six months of silence
On 4 April 2022 Mariana and her unit were taken prisoner at the Illich steelworks. For most of her captivity she was held at the prison camp in Olenivka; later she was moved to a hospital in Donetsk. For half a year her family had no word from her.
On 21 September 2022 she was freed in a large exchange together with other defenders of Mariupol; paramedic Kateryna Polishchuk, who had also been held at Olenivka, came home the same day. Mariana only realised she was being exchanged once she was on the plane. On the night of 24–25 September, in Lutsk, she gave birth to a daughter.
Helping those who came back
Mariana knows how hard it is for women to return to ordinary life after captivity. In 2024 she founded a charity that helps women who survived Russian captivity get back on their feet. Before that she had started putting together “baby boxes” of clothes, food and hygiene products for newborns in soldiers’ families.
Why it matters
Mariana’s story showed the world that Russia holds medics, women and even mothers-to-be as prisoners. Today she helps others who have been through the same thing. In 2025 the Kulczyk Foundation gave her its Portraits of Sisterhood award for her work with women after captivity and with soldiers’ mothers and wives.
