Amina Okueva: Medic, Sniper, Symbol of Resistance

October 30, 2017October 31, 2025

On October 30, 2017, Ukraine lost one of its brightest and most devoted daughters — Amina Okueva. Near the village of Hlevakha in Kyiv region, unknown killers shot up her car. Amina died from received wounds. Her husband, Adam Osmaev, was wounded but survived.

Just months earlier, there had already been an assassination attempt on both of them in Kyiv. That time, Amina reacted instantly — returned fire, wounded the attacker, and saved her husband’s life.

Amina Okueva, a Ukrainian of Chechen descent, was a unique figure. Her life embodied uncompromising resistance — a war against the empire that cannot tolerate freedom. Her name became a reminder that Russia’s imperial policy spans a long geography of oppressed nations.

A Muslim woman who consciously chose Ukraine as her homeland and fought for its independence, Amina became a symbol of international solidarity in the war against Russian imperialism.

A Bit of History

In one of her interviews, Amina Okuyeva told something. During the Second Chechen War, she actively helped rebels in the fight against russians. But she never told details. The only thing known from her memories is resistance participants convinced her to return to Ukraine. They convinced her to get medical education. The reason for this was lack of medics, and because of this, many Ichkeria rebels were dying.

She enrolled in medical university in Odesa, later specializing in general surgery. In winter 2013, as protests on Maidan turned into Revolution, Amina went to Kyiv without hesitation. She joined Maidan’s self-defense and became a combat medic in the 8th Afghan Hundred.

Medic and Warrior

After the Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine faced new trials — Crimea’s annexation and the war in Donbas. Amina headed East immediately. She served as a field medic, then as press officer in the Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion — a unit of Chechen and Ukrainian volunteers formed in 2014.

After the death of battalion commander Isa Munayev near Debaltseve in February 2015, Amina’s husband headed the unit. Amina herself took direct part in combat operations. Particularly in the Debaltseve area. In the last months of military service, she was a sniper.

On October 30, 2017, unknown persons opened fire on the car where Okueva and her husband Adam Osmaev were. Here is direct speech from husband Adam, who survived that shootout:

We crossed the railroad crossing and there’s an L-shaped turn, and at the second turn automatic shooting suddenly started. I immediately hit the gas. Amina was sitting next to me. The shelling came from the right side, it literally lasted a few seconds until I got out of the firing zone. But in those few seconds, unfortunately, they hit her. I stopped, thinking they would start finishing us off, someone would approach. But no one approached, they turned out to be cowards and fled. Then I started taking care of Amina. She was already unconscious. A bullet hit her head, shattered her skull. I tried with ‘Celox’, which we always carry with us, to stop the blood. But after some time she stopped showing signs of life.

Legacy

They buried Amina Okueva in Dnipro according to Muslim customs. There was no public farewell. Close ones kept the time and place secret, fearing possible terrorist attacks. They buried the woman next to the grave of battalion commander of the Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion Isa Munayev. Amina had specified the burial site in her will, written four months before her death.

In 2015, Amina received the order “People’s Hero of Ukraine”

In 2017, Amina received an award weapon — a Glock 43 pistol