A Ukrainian refugee who threw soup at a Russian ambassador said she has had to flee for her safety for a second time because people are threatening her life.
Iryna Zemlyana ran away from her home when Russia started bombing the country in February. Like the majority of Ukrainian refugees, Iryna ended up in Poland.
The Russian ambassador to Poland, Sergei Andreev, visited the capital city of Warsaw on May 9 – when Russia celebrates its defeat of the Nazis in the Second World War with its annual Victory Day holiday.
He was meant to visit a cemetery, where more that 21,000 Soviet soldiers are buried, but he was met with fierce protesters.
Iryna was one of the demonstrators and she made headlines for throwing beetroot borscht at Mr Andreev.
The bright red soup was supposed to symbolise Ukrainian blood spilt in the Russian invasion of her homeland.
But since then, Iryna said she has been flooded with phone calls every few minutes, her email inbox is completely full with spam and her social media accounts are getting harassed.
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She said on Monday: ‘I’m getting thousands of threatening messages. I have never seen such a massive attack in my life.
‘A few hours after the pile-on, all my data including my passport number, address in Ukraine, telephone number, email address and social media accounts, were posted on Russian Telegram channels calling for my elimination.
‘I was also added to the Russian database of “war criminals” – where there is a list of (Ukraine’s) military (I’m actually honoured to be alongside such heroes).’
She said the messages were threats to kill, maim and rape her, accompanied by ‘a bunch of images.
Iryna eventually called the Polish police who determined there was reason to believe some of threats were cause for real-life concern.
So they helped her leave Warsaw and escorted her somewhere safe.
‘I never thought I would have to run away twice,’ she said.
Authorities had recommended the Victory Day visit be cancelled but it went ahead anyway.
Mr Andreyev said he was unharmed, according to RIA Novosti.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, claimed the ambush, as well as other attacks on Soviet-era WWII memorials and cemeteries, came from ‘supporters of neo-Nazism.’
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