Valeriia 'Lera' Maksetska

Gulf Today Report

Ukrainians are putting out an incredibly brave resistance against the Russian forces. As Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, said, “They have fought bravely and honourably and are doing the right thing.”

It is a bravery that is very praiseworthy, but also laden with risks. The war has had some terrible consequences already: an airstrike on a maternity and children’s hospital, attacks on nuclear plants, and more than 2 million refugees having already fled the country with accounts of possible war crimes.

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Tragedy laced with cruelty has marked a new development. A Ukrainian woman who set out to buy medicines for her sick mother paid with her life when she was killed by Russian troops in the process.

This photo shows a Russian tank outside Brovary, near Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters

According to a report in a section of the Indian media, Valeriia 'Lera' Maksetska, a 31-year-old Ukrainian woman, went out of the house to look for medicines for her mother Irina as she was very sick. Her mother was also there with her in the car. It was a fatal move: in a village outside Kyiv, she was killed by Russian soldiers moving in a tank. Her mother and the driver of the vehicle also died in the ambush.

Maksetska, who was a trained medic, decided not to join the fleeing bandwagon of her countrymen when the Russians landed in Ukraine.

They were driving towards the country’s western borders when they were attacked and killed.

The report, quoting the Daily Mail, said their vehicle pulled over to allow the Russian troops to pass when one of them opened fire at their car.

Maksetska was a staffer with the United States Agency for International Development before she died.