A mural has appeared in the New York borough of Brooklyn in honor of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, who was stabbed to death at a light rail station in North Carolina in August 2025.
The New York Post writes about this.
A large image by Irina Zarutska occupies three floors of a house in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The mural was created by American street artist Ben Keller, known for his memorial projects dedicated to victims of violent crimes.
"I started this campaign so that Irynaʼs story would not disappear. Her murder is at the intersection of many issues that concern American society. For example, one of them is a progressive approach to fighting crime," Keller said in a comment to the New York Post.
The creation of the mural was financed by businessman Elon Musk — he allocated $1 million. IT entrepreneur Johan McCabe also joined in, allocating $500 000, and private donors.
Bushwick residents reacted to the muralʼs appearance in a mixed manner. Some residents approved of the initiative, while others expressed their sadness and condolences over the death of the Ukrainian woman on social media.
But later, some users began calling the mural “anti-immigrant fascist propaganda”. Social media users were outraged that supporters of US President Donald Trump, who “support neither Ukrainians nor refugees”, had used the tragedy to advance their own political narratives and attempt to inflame racial tensions.
"This needs to be taken down. Of course, she [Iryna Zarutska] deserves to be honored, but using her memory to incite racial tension is not normal. The motivation behind this is evil," one user wrote on Reddit.
At the same time, entrepreneur Johan McCabe, who financed the project, says that there are significantly fewer negative reviews of the mural than positive ones.
What is known about the murder of Iryna Zarutska
On August 22, Iryna Zarutska, a refugee from Ukraine, was brutally murdered at a light rail station in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The suspect, 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown, was arrested shortly after police arrived on the scene. He faces the death penalty. Police said Brown, who is homeless, has a long criminal history, having been arrested multiple times since 2011.
The US President Donald Trump promised on September 9 to "find out everything" about the murder of Iryna Zarutska and said he was demanding the death penalty for the attacker.
A video of the murder appeared online, showing the girl getting into a subway car and sitting in front of the suspect. The man then pulled out a knife and stabbed the Ukrainian woman several times.
The suspectʼs sister Tracy Brown shared a recording of the conversation with the Daily Mail, which took place six days after her brother was arrested. He claimed that "the government implanted alien materials in his brain" that controlled his actions. He admitted that he killed Iryna Zarutska because she "read his mind".
American billionaire Elon Musk reported on September 10 that he would allocate a million dollars to create murals depicting Ukrainian woman Iryna Zarutska, who was murdered in the United States.
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