Murdered Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska is seen playing cards, cooking and enjoying a vacation with pals in a gut-wrenching video one of them shared in an emotional tribute.
Zarutska, 22, is seen frolicking in a swimming pool, having drinks and spending time with her boyfriend, Stanislav Nikulytsia, not long before she was stabbed to death on board a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month, in the Instagram reel shared on Sunday by her friend, Ulya.
She tagged the video with hashtags “forever young” and “always loved.”
The emotive video of the young woman triggered a visceral response from viewers, with many praising the chance to see her alive and happy, after footage of her gruesome death allegedly at the hands of homeless schizophrenic career criminal Decarlos Brown, 34, was shared worldwide.
“I think many are grateful to see her as she was, rather than only in those final moments,” one Instagram user wrote.
“Thank you for sharing a piece of your beautiful Iryna’s life with us,” wrote another.
“It feels a little better to see how much she was loved. I cant imagine how it must feel for all of those who were close to her. Rest in peace Angel,” wrote a third.
The video comes as Zarutska’s uncle spoke of his grief at his niece’s death and the pain of seeing the video of her brutal death.
“I watched the video — it was just terrible, just absolutely terrible. She didn’t deserve that and nobody does. It’s been very tough on the family,” her uncle, who requested not to be named, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday.
“If you watch the video, you can see, she just came on and she took the first seat that was available to her. It would appear she didn’t recognize there was any danger,” he said.
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The uncle, who was out of town when Zarutska was killed, was told to come home by his wife “right now” when she learned news of her death.
He called for major changes in the wake of the death of his niece, who moved to the US in 2022 following the full-scale Russian invasion of her homeland.
In his final message from his niece, she was “expressing gratitude and how happy she was here in the United States,” the uncle said.
“Our country has to change on how we deal with these situations, and that requires our leadership to take action, and I need for them to take actions,” he said.
Brown, who was arrested for Zarutska’s murder on Aug. 22, the same night she was killed, was charged with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system by the US Attorney’s Office in the Western District of North Carolina last week.
This federal charge could make him eligible for the death penalty, the Justice Department said last Tuesday.
