Ukrainian Actress Oksana Shvets Killed in Russian Rocket Attack – The Hollywood Reporter
Ukrainian actress Oksana Shvets, a famed film and theater performer, has been killed in a Russian rocket attack on a residential building in Kyiv, according to her troupe, the Young Theater. According to media reports, she was 67.
“During the rocket shelling of a residential building in Kyiv,” the Young Theater statement reads, “a well-deserved artist of Ukraine Oksana Shvets was killed.” The troupe expressed “unreparable grief” at Shvets’ death.
The “well-deserved artist” comment is a reference to Shvets’ achievements. A veteran of stage and screen for decades in Ukraine, she had been awarded one of Ukraine’s highest artistic honors, the title of which roughly translates as “Honored Artist of Ukraine” or, somewhat less artfully as “Well-Deserved Artist.”
The English-language Kyiv Post also confirmed her death, saying she was “murdered in Kyiv during the war.”
The actress of the Young Theatre Oksana Shvets has been murdered in Kyiv during the war. pic.twitter.com/Rp3DcgSbge
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) March 17, 2022
Reportedly born on February 10, 1955, Shvets graduated from the theater studio at the Ivan Franko Theater and the Kiev State Institute of Theater Arts. In addition to her work at the Young Theater, Shvets performed with the Ternopil Music and Drama Theater and the Kiev Theater of Satire.
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 fixer Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova were killed when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire.