NIZHYN, Ukraine: A Ukrainian soldier who was posthumously awarded a medal after a widely shared video showed him declaring "Glory to Ukraine" before apparently being shot dead, was commemorated with a statue in his northern hometown on Saturday.
The video shared in March showed a man the military later named as Oleksandr Matsievskiy, a sniper with a unit from the region of Chernihiv, saying "Slava Ukraini," a phrase more than a century old that has become a popular expression of resistance to Russia's February 2022 invasion.
Standing smoking a cigarette in a wooded area, carrying no visible weaponry, Matsievskiy is then seen slumping to the ground, apparently struck repeatedly by unseen shooters.
Kyiv blamed "brutal and brazen" Russians for his death, as did his mother Paraska Demchuk, 68.
"He would have taken all of them with him if he had a grenade," she said, as she proudly showed the medal President Volodymyr Zelenskiy bestowed on her son representing the "Hero of Ukraine" honour.
"He would say to me, 'Mum, I will never let them capture me'," she said through tears. "He wouldn't just bandy words about. It was on the inside, it was like a core inside him," she said.
Kyiv has opened a criminal investigation into the death of Matsievskiy, who was quickly talked of as a hero on social media, where many supporters posted the words "Heroyam Slava," or "Glory to the Heroes," the traditional response to Slava Ukraini.
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Ukraine unveils monument to soldier shot dead in widely shared video
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Ukraine unveils monument to soldier shot dead in widely shared video
- Kyiv blamed "brutal and brazen" Russians for his death, as did his mother Paraska Demchuk
- "He would have taken all of them with him if he had a grenade," she said
Indonesia to go ahead with free meals program despite ‘extraordinary’ campaign against it, president says
- Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been in turmoil following a warning about stock market transparency
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto said on Friday that he will proceed with his free meals program despite the “extraordinary” campaign mounted against it, adding that it is being funded through budget efficiency measures.
“We will implement this program,” Prabowo said during the launch of a free meal kitchen operated by the national police in Jakarta.
“We will face the extraordinary campaign, which said that I am wasting money,” he added.
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been in turmoil following a warning about stock market transparency by index provider MSCI, which caused a frantic sell-off that slashed the market’s value by $120 billion.
Days later, Moody’s cut its bond-rating outlook for Indonesia’s government and some of its companies to negative.
Investors have also expressed concern about Prabowo’s big spending plans, including the $20 billion free meals scheme, but he said savings from elsewhere will ensure that Indonesia remains within its fiscal deficit limit of 3 percent of GDP.
“This is what we are saving money on, this is what we are diverting... Our state budget does not exceed the parameters we set,” he said.
Since the program’s launch in January last year, at least 15,000 children across the country have fallen ill as a result of food poisoning.
During the event, Prabowo said the percentage of children affected was low and stressed that the overall scheme had “succeeded,” with 60 million free meal recipients as of Friday.
“We will implement this program,” Prabowo said during the launch of a free meal kitchen operated by the national police in Jakarta.
“We will face the extraordinary campaign, which said that I am wasting money,” he added.
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been in turmoil following a warning about stock market transparency by index provider MSCI, which caused a frantic sell-off that slashed the market’s value by $120 billion.
Days later, Moody’s cut its bond-rating outlook for Indonesia’s government and some of its companies to negative.
Investors have also expressed concern about Prabowo’s big spending plans, including the $20 billion free meals scheme, but he said savings from elsewhere will ensure that Indonesia remains within its fiscal deficit limit of 3 percent of GDP.
“This is what we are saving money on, this is what we are diverting... Our state budget does not exceed the parameters we set,” he said.
Since the program’s launch in January last year, at least 15,000 children across the country have fallen ill as a result of food poisoning.
During the event, Prabowo said the percentage of children affected was low and stressed that the overall scheme had “succeeded,” with 60 million free meal recipients as of Friday.
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