Ukraine Crisis: Valeriia has done humanitarian work ever since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
A Russian tank reportedly blew up a Ukrainian woman who was leaving her home in Kyiv to get medicine for her ailing mother. The woman, Valeriia Maksetska, worked for a USAID partner organisation and was allegedly killed in a town near Kyiv along with her mother and driver. Valeriia had originally planned to stay in Kyiv to assist residents under siege from the Russians. However, when her mother, Irina, ran out of medicine, they decided to depart.
A tank reportedly opened fire on Valeriia, Irina, and their driver, Yaroslav, while they had pulled over to let a Russian convoy pass on a route west of Kyiv.
Samantha Power, the administrator of USAID, confirmed that all three people were killed in the incident. Ms Power said Valeriia, a Chemonics employee, was “killed by the Russian military just shy of her 32nd birthday”.
A report in The Scottish Sun quoted Ms Power as saying, “I'm enormously sad to share the death of Valeriia ‘Lera' Maksetska — proud Ukrainian, beloved USAID implementing partner and brilliant, compassionate leader on building social cohesion and fighting disinformation.”
A report in The Daily Mail stated that Valeriia was described as a “brave” woman by her friends.
Quoting Ms Power, The Daily Mail report added, “She (Valeriia) survived the shelling of Donetsk, moved to Kyiv, and started working with USAID, where she became beloved as ‘a brave woman with a kind heart'.”
Ms Power added that when Kyiv was attacked, Valeriia had written that she was angry at the violence, but she was proud to be a Ukrainian and live somewhere where beliefs mattered.
In a tweet, Jamey Butcher, the chief executive of Chemonics, posted a photo of Valeriia and wrote, “This is my staff member Valeriia (Lera) Maksetska. She was killed in a village west of Kyiv while trying to get medication for her sick mother.”
In a subsequent tweet, he added, “Lera was committed to Kyiv and the people of Ukraine and determined to stay in Kyiv. In one of her last emails to her friends, she shared: “As an IDP from Donetsk, who lived in the war during 2014-2015, I took a decision to stay in Kyiv and help people here as much as I can.”
Valeriia was born and raised in Donetsk, a city in Ukraine. Since Russia's invasion of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, she had worked as part of a humanitarian response.