Yelena Shidyanskaya

{{onesource|date=October 2023}}

{{short description|Military commander}}

{{Infobox military person

| name = Yelena Shidyanskaya

| native_name = Елена Ивановна Шидянская

| native_name_lang = rus

| image = Иллюстрация к статье «Амазонская рота». Военная энциклопедия Сытина (Санкт-Петербург, 1911-1915).jpg

| birth_date = {{birth year|1755}}

| death_date = {{death year and age|1849|1755}}

| death_place = Simferopol, Crimea

| allegiance = Russian Empire

| rank = Captain

| commands = Amazon company

}}

Yelena Ivanovna Shidyanskaya ({{lang-rus|Елена Ивановна Шидянская}}) nee Yelena Ivanovna Sardanova ({{lang-rus|Елена Ивановна Сарданова}}), 1755–1849) was a Greek-Russian military commander..Ф. Домбровский. «Капитан амазонской роты» (Одесский Вестник, 1849, № 1) She was an ethnic Greek Crimean appointed commander of the "Amazon company" appointed by Grigory Potemkin to serve during the visit of Catherine the Great to the Crimea in 1787. While this military unit was largely ceremonial and existed only during Catherine's visit, it was nevertheless formally a military unit during its existence, and Yelena Shidyanskaya was thereby the first woman in Russia to be appointed to the post of commander of a military unit.