‘A real sweet girl’: The moving story of Iryna Zarutska’s life in America before stabbing

22nd August 2025 was just a normal day for Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who loved her new life in the US and was on her way to work at a local pizza shop. However, it ended in tragedy as she was brutally stabbed in an unprovoked attack on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Iryna was a young 23-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her, excited about building a new chapter in America after fleeing Ukraine with her mum, brother and sister in 2022 when Russia invaded. Her uncle already lived in the US and helped them leave seeing a picture of them huddled up in a bomb shelter near their apartment in Kyiv.

She got a job on the first day she was allowed to work, working at a senior citizen center and taking care of animals and before getting a job at the pizza place. Iryna had recently moved in with her boyfriend when she was tragically killed.

In the short three years she was in the United States, Iryna touched a lot of people’s lives in Charlotte and was clearly adored by everyone who met her.

Credit: Charlotte Area Transit System

A few of her neighbours in a suburb called Huntsville where she once lived have spoken to Fox News about what she was like. One person said they first met through a Facebook page as they were looking for someone to paint pastel flowers on the wall of their sewing room.

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“She came over and did some samples for us, and we still have them. She was here a couple of days, painting upstairs, and we got to know her,” the neighbor said. Another added: “She didn’t know English at the time, so we used Google Translate. She was just a real sweet girl. Very shy, but very smart.”

Iryna worked in Zepeddies Pizzeria, but had a degree in art and restoration from Synergy College in Kyiv, so loved to do artwork in people’s homes in her spare time. One person said the refugee spent days painting the upstairs of their home and would share stories about life in Ukraine during her breaks.

“She was very cheerful and enthusiastic. We had some good moments with her,” they said. Another neighbour said she “was very smart, very talented, very artistic” and “could have taken the world by storm with her potential”.

Credit: Iryna Zarutska/Facebook

As soon as she arrived in the US, Iryna started learning English so she could get more opportunities, and one neighbour even gave her a computer to help her studies. This generosity shows what an incredible woman Iryna really was.

“She had a skill for this — to put the colors down and mix them up and get exactly what you had in mind. Phenomenal,” another said. The artwork on everyone’s walls keeps her memory alive, and she even signed some of them with her name.

Iryna loved her new life in America so much that she her family have chosen to bury her in the United States rather than take her body back to Ukraine.

The neighbours’ words prove that what was written in her obituary was exactly true: “Iryna will be remembered for her kindness, her creativity, and the lasting impression she left on everyone she met. Her absence leaves a deep void, but her spirit will forever remain in the hearts of those who loved her.”

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Featured image by: Iryna Zarutska/Instagram