Tetiana Barantsova

Barantsova was born in 1973 in Luhansk.^[1][2] She broke her spine at the age of ten years while doing school gymnastics.^[1] Graduated from Kyiv National University of Arts and Culture in 2002, and University of Education Management in 2018.^[2]

Barantsova was a disability rights activist and in 2002 she set up Ami-Skhid non-governmental organisation that helps Ukrainian women, families, and youth with disabilities.^[1][3] The organisation undertakes advocacy and provides counselling and support services to people with disabilities.^[1]

In 2014, Barantsova, her husband Oleksiy Soroka, and their son were displaced by the Russo-Ukrainian War.^[1] Once she reached safety, she set up a telephone line to provide advice to people with disabilities who were trapped in the conflict zone, and provided advice, cash, and both legal and psychological support to 5,000 people.^[1] Barantsova also set up an online school for internally displaced children, providing education to 1,000 pupils.^[1]

From 2008 to 2020 she worked in Luhansk Oblast Centre for the Sociocultural Adaptation of Youth with Physical Disabilities^[2] In 2020, she was the European winner of the Nansen Refugee Award.^[1][4]

As of 2022, she was an advisor to the government of Ukraine.^[5] She was appointed Government Commissioner for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and was working to organize the evacuation abroad of people with disabilities and mobility-impaired people from various regions of Ukraine.^[6]

Barantsova was married to Oleksiy Soroka, and had one son.^[1] She died on 17 April 2025, at the age of 51.^[7]

On 4 December 2011, she was awarded the Order of Princess Olha, 3rd Class.

In 2020, she was the European winner of the Nansen Refugee Award.^[1][8]