'Fantastic female warrior' – Drone operator Rayana killed fighting Russian forces
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"Rayana," a female drone operator with the Chechen Sheikh Mansur Volunteer Battalion, has been killed in action, the battalion announced on Nov. 14.
"Two fighters from the Chechen Sheikh Mansur Battalion — our brother Khamza and our sister Rayana — were killed fighting Russian occupiers in Ukraine," the battalion wrote on its Telegram channel.
Military service for women in Ukraine is voluntary. Rayana joined the army voluntarily in 2024, becoming the first woman in the battalion.
Before joining the military, she taught Muay Thai and raised her son as a single mother.
"It's harder to be at the rear, because here (at the front) I know where the enemy is and I can do something about it. I'm doing everything I can to help," Rayana said in an interview with the United News telethon in 2024.
In 2024, Rayana was wounded at the front but returned regardless, according to her Instagram page.
Soldier Murad Nasirov said Rayana "was not merely a Muslim, nor merely a warrior — she was a person who made a choice and stood up to defend the land she considered her homeland."
"Her faith, courage, and self-sacrifice will remain in our memory forever," Nasirov wrote in an Instagram post.
Olha Konoval, who served alongside Rayana, remembered her as a devoted Muslim who looked after a mosque in the embattled city of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast.
Konoval said Rayana was a strong and fearless woman who always carried a large military bag and was ready to defend herself and others at any moment.
"Ukraine has lost a fantastic female warrior. We have all lost her. Every one of us," Konoval wrote in a tribute on Instagram.
Rayana's funeral will take place in Odesa, where her family lives.
The Sheikh Mansur battalion is named after a religious and military leader who sought to prevent Russian Empress Catherine the Great's imperial expansion into the Caucasus during the late 1700s. Mansur is remembered for uniting the Caucasus against the Russians' growing presence.
According to the General Staff, more than 76,000 women serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including 57,000 military personnel, while the remainder hold civilian positions.
