The father of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed to death on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, couldn’t attend his daughter’s funeral in the US due to Ukraine’s martial law, which prohibits men up to the age of 60 from leaving the country, The New York Post has reported.
Iryna Zarutska was killed last month and buried on August 27. Decarlos Brown, 34, who had been arrested multiple times before, was charged with the murder, which was caught on camera.
“He had to stay back. He didn’t come for the funeral,” a neighbor of Zarutska’s family told the Post. “He’s still there for whatever the wartime rules are.”
According to her obituary, Zarutska was born in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and fled to the US with other family members about six months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “In August 2022, she emigrated from Ukraine with her mother, sister, and brother to escape the war, and she quickly embraced her new life in the United States,” her obituary reads.
Since the Russian invasion, the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has imposed martial law, under which males ages 18 to 60 cannot leave the country. According to Newsweek, the policy has changed slightly, as a Ukrainian official said last month that young men ages 18 to 22 are now permitted to cross the border in either direction.
Ukrainian martial law has also allowed Zelensky to justify staying in power without holding elections. Zelensky’s term in office expired in May 2024, and the Ukrainian parliament has also been due for an election since October 2023.
Ukrainian officials have justified not holding an election by pointing to Ukraine’s constitution, which prohibits elections during martial law. However, Zelensky made it clear at one point that he could hold a vote if he wanted to, suggesting back in 2023 that it could happen if the US and other Western countries covered the cost.
