Zelensky’s law forces Zarutska’s father to miss her funeral – media
The father of Iryna Zarutska, a young Ukrainian woman brutally stabbed to death in Charlotte, North Carolina last month, was not able to attend her funeral because of Kiev’s mobilization laws, according to media reports.
Zarutska, 23, was killed while traveling on a local light rail train in full view of other passengers on August 22.
Police have charged 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr. – a man with over a dozen prior arrests – with her murder. US President Donald Trump has demanded the death penalty for Brown.
Zarutska left Ukraine with her mother, sister, and brother in 2022, following the escalation of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow. Her father, however, was unable to join them as Ukraine’s martial law prohibits most men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country.
A family neighbor in Charlotte told the New York Post that Zarutska’s father “had to stay back” and could not attend his daughter’s funeral because of the “war time rules.”
Since the escalation of the conflict in 2022, Kiev has tightened its mobilization laws, lowering the draft age and expanding recruitment measures to address manpower shortages on the battlefield. The government has faced accusations of brutality during forced conscriptions, with reports of draft officers beating conscripts and civilians, sometimes to death, and dragging men into vehicles.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has described Ukraine’s practices as an “open manhunt,” calling them one of the greatest disgraces of modern Europe.
Moscow has condemned Kiev for sacrificing its own citizens in what it calls a Western-backed proxy war against Russia.
