Zinaida Korneva

Korneva died on 12 October 2021 in Saint Petersburg, at the age of 99.

During the Second World War Korneva served in the air surveillance forces [ru] as head of an observation post. On 25 April 2020, at the age of 97, she began a charity event "The Stories of Zinaida Korneva", in which she wrote down stories and posted to YouTube about her life and the Great Patriotic War to raise money in support of Russian doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Russian Society of Veterans (pensioners) of war, labour, the Armed Forces and law enforcement [ru] helped in the collection and distribution of charitable funds. The videos were published by friends and family on the YouTube channel and attracted attention not only in Russia, but in other countries. 4.5 million rubles were collected.

On 2 October 2020, Korneva was awarded a commemorative medal of the IC of Russia "75 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945."

In 2020, Korneva learned about British veteran Tom Moore, who began raising funds as part of the NHS Charities Together to support the UK's National Health Service. Inspired, Zinaida decided to hold the same action in Russia. On 25 April 2020, a fundraising campaign was announced to support doctors, working in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the project "Appeal to Tom Moore" was launched.

On 27 August 2020, the project “Zinaida Korneva's Initiative” received the National Award “Media Manager of Russia-2020”. The award was received by Dmitry Panov, a member of the family of Zinaida Korneva, managing partner of Wallet One / RNKO "Edinaya Kassa". On 23 November 2020, the President of the Russian Federation awarded Zinaida the Distinction Badge "For Beneficence". “To award Zinaida Antonovna Korneva, the city of St. Petersburg, with a Distinction Badge 'For Beneficence', the city of St. Petersburg, for her great contribution to charitable and social activities,” the document says. On 10 December 2020, Sergei Shabanov, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Saint Petersburg Region, on behalf of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova, presented the «Hurry to Do Good» Award to the 98-year-old Korneva.

In 1946, Blokhina married Boris Georgievich Kornev and moved to Leningrad. They had a daughter, Olga Borisovna Korneva. In 1946 Korneva began to work as a teacher at the male school number 330. In 1952 she quit for health reasons. After that, she worked at the defense enterprise «Signal» in the technical control department. She was the secretary of the Party organization, worked with the Komsomol members on the history of the party, was the secretary of the district electoral commission - for which she received the Order of the Badge of Honour on 26 April 1971.

Blokhina was conscripted in spring 1942, and after a course in military skills in Kalmykia, she was drafted into the Soviet Armed Forces in early May. During her studies, she improved her shooting skills, studied the types of aircraft using classified albums. In the summer of 1942, as part of the 44th separate battalion, Air Surveillance troops were transferred to Rostov Oblast, where observation posts were deployed to defend Stalingrad. In November 1942, she was appointed head of the observation post. She was credited with 239 correctly identified enemy aircraft. During the summer of 1943, the battalion was transferred to Kharkov and united with the First Ukrainian Front. As part of the 1st Ukrainian Front, she saw action throughout the battles to push occupying forces from Ukraine and participated in the liberation of Poland. In April and May 1945 the Air Surveillance battalion, in which Blokhina served, took part in the operation to liberate Breslau (now Wroclaw). She was in the suburb of Olau (Olava) on 9 May, when the German surrender was announced.

Zinaida Antonovna Korneva, née Blokhina (Russian: Зинаида Антоновна Корнева, nee Блохина; 27 September 1922 – 12 October 2021) was a Soviet and Russian military veteran of the Second World War and a charity fundraiser.