Marharyta Polovinko, Artist and Combat Medic: photos from her funeral

Marharyta Polovinko was a Ukrainian combat medic and artist, who was killed in action at the age of 31 earlier this month.

Polovinko served in the 2nd Mechanized Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. Prior to formally joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine, she volunteered in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson, helping to rebuild homes destroyed by Russian shelling. Later, she worked as part of a CASEVAC (casualty evacuation) team — responsible for the critical task of first-stage medical evacuations under fire.

A graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in 2019, where she specialised in easel painting, Polovinko’s artistic practice spanned drawing, painting, and animation. Her work was both experimental and deeply personal, often employing unconventional materials such as her own blood or dry ink pens to scrape images into paper. Her art was marked by diaristic introspection and a kind of automatic writing that bordered on the cathartic.

She was known universally as a jolly, upbeat and positive person, bringing inspiration to her work and inspiring others.

Here are some examples of her battlefield art.

Below we bring you some photos from her funeral.

May Marharyta Polovinko rest in peace, and may this brutal war of Russian aggression be brought to an end as soon as humanly possible on just and equitable terms. While politicians talk, people die.