Kyiv, 12 October 2020: protest death and pandemic toll
A look back at reports from the days around 12 October 2020, when a veteran's self-immolation in Kyiv and a rise in Ukraine's COVID-19 deaths were in the news.
What was Ukraine reporting on 12 October 2020? Two grim items framed the days around that date.
On 11 October 2020, a veteran of the war in eastern Ukraine, Mykola Mykytenko, set himself on fire in central Kyiv. The act was a protest against the then-current authorities' policy on settling the conflict. He died from his burns on 14 October, two days after the covered date.
On 10 October 2020, a statement from the National Security and Defence Council said daily COVID-19 deaths in Ukraine had passed 100 for the first time since the pandemic began, reaching 108. The total number of deaths recorded since the first cases in the country stood at 4,887.
Together, the reports of 10 and 11 October 2020 set out a public mood marked by a worsening health situation and by a veteran's protest over how the conflict was being handled.
