Roman Ratushny believed in a better, purer Ukraine
The civic and environmental activist was killed near Izyum on June 9th, aged 24
In 2013, when he was 16, Roman Ratushny lay down in Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Independence Square, in the centre of Kyiv and tried to sleep. It was difficult. The square was full of students, almost all older than he was. They were there to protest against the decision by the president, Viktor Yanukovych, to go back on a special trade deal between Ukraine and the European Union. By day the square was alive with blue and yellow flags, eu as well as Ukrainian; girls wore them round their shoulders. Now, at night in the chill of late November, braziers were burning instead.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Fight without end”
Obituary June 25th 2022
From the June 25th 2022 edition
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