This fighter pilot who was kicked out of the Italian Air Force academy for complaining about hazing has gone to Ukraine to fight in the Special Forces branch of President Zelenskyy’s International Legion.
The revelation has been made in Italian media, which say that Giulia Jasmine Schiff, 23, who was kicked out of the Italian Air Force Academy in 2018 after she reported alleged hazing she had suffered at the hands of eight sergeants, is the only woman currently enrolled in the International Legion among thousands of other volunteers.
Schiff has reportedly been in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, since the early days of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of his neighbouring country, fighting as a Special Forces soldier in Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine.
The attractive, young woman, who hails from Italy’s northern Veneto region, reportedly posted on Facebook on Friday, 25th February, one day after Putin’s invasion began, that she had not seen from Europe “the reaction that Ukraine deserves for the havoc wrought on them by Putin”.
Schiff reportedly added: “There is no justification for not reacting.” She also reportedly said: “Acting is a duty.”
The soldier explained her decision by saying: “We need to help a country that cannot defend itself, invaded by one of the world’s powers, among other things for ridiculous reasons…”
She reportedly left for Ukraine a few days after her Facebook post, which went unnoticed at the time. Her trip east was reportedly conducted in utmost secrecy, with her telling just one Italian journalist, named as Roberta Rei, that she was planning to leave. Rei said: “I was petrified.”
It only reportedly took a few days of training before Schiff was given her first missions, gun in hand, near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
It is currently unclear where exactly she is, largely due to security reasons, but Schiff has reportedly been in touch with the Italian journalist, with whom she is said to have been friends for some years.
Referring to her successful enrolment in Ukraine’s International Legion, she reportedly recently said: “I did it!”
She added: “I was born for this, to help our Ukrainian brothers and to prevent the war from reaching us.”
She also reportedly said: “I am going against the tide. While many are fleeing, I head towards the fighting areas.”
Images posted to her Instagram account appear to show her in military gear, as seen in this image. Schiff is not planning on returning home until the war is won.
She reportedly said: “How many useless words, but what penalties? How come we are able to really help and instead we just watch?
“Are they really worried about the price of petrol and the refugees who will emigrate? All this hypocrisy will have consequences. Shame.”
