Kyiv: Ukrainian actress Oksana Shvets was killed this past week in Kyiv by Russian shelling of the city. She was 67 years old.
“During the rocket shelling of a residential building in Kyiv, a well-deserving artist of Ukraine Oksana Shvets was killed,” Young Theater announced.
She was a well-accomplished actress, earning Ukraine’s top award for entertainers.
According to the Young Theater website, Shvets studied theatre at the Ivan Franko Theater and the Kyiv State Institute of Theater Arts before embarking on a decades-long career in entertainment.
Oksana Shvets was born on February 10, 1955. She had worked at Young Theater, Ternopil Music and Drama Theater and the Kyiv Theater of Satire during her career.
In addition to her theatre work, Shvets’ acting credits include TV series such as the long-running family saga “Dom s liliyami.” According to IMDb, her first screen role was in the 1976 TV mini-series Nasledniki, which translates in English to Heirs. Her most recent was in the 2013 drama series Dom s liliyami, or House with Lilies.
According to Variety, Shvets was honoured with one of Ukraine’s most prestigious awards for her work in theatre, the Merited Artist of Ukraine.
She is one of the thousands who have died in the more than three weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Last week, Ukrainian singer and composer Pasha Lee was killed in a shelling attack in Irpin while on the front line fighting for his country. Civilian deaths have been mounting in Ukraine as Russia increases its shelling of large cities, including the capital, Kyiv.
Earlier this week, Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and local reporter Oleksandra Sasha Kuvshynova were killed when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire.
More than 3 million have fled as Russia has been targeting residential areas, hospitals and schools, although Russia denies doing so.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of committing war crimes, and President Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal.