'It's like playing with death' - Ukraine's female front line soldiers
A slim, blue-eyed, brunette woman is working out in a gym. This might be unremarkable were it not for the fact that according to the Russian media - she is dead. Andriana Arekhta is a special unit sergeant in the Ukrainian armed forces, preparing to return to the front line. The BBC found Andriana in a rehabilitation centre in Ukraine - in a location we cannot name for her safety - after she was injured by a landmine in the Kherson region in December. Numerous text and video reports in Russian celebrate her "death" in graphic detail. "They published that I am without legs and without hands and that I was killed by them," says Andriana. "They are professionals in propaganda." IMAGE SOURCE, EURASIA DAILY Image caption, Russian propaganda announcing the "death" of Andriana The reports include lurid descriptions of her such as "executioner", and an "eliminated Nazi". Accusing her of cruelty and sadism without any proof, they app...