Kyiv and Kryvyi Rih: two stories from mid-August 2021
A look back at reports from 15 to 17 August 2021 involving an evacuated Afghan film director and the death of a Ukrainian mayor.
What did Ukraine's news look like on 18 August 2021? Two reports from the preceding days stood out, one about arrival and one about loss.
After the Taliban took Kabul, the Afghan film director Sahraa Karimi, general director of the state film company Afghan Film, was evacuated from Afghanistan to Kyiv, as reported on 17 August 2021.
Two days earlier, on 15 August 2021, Kostiantyn Pavlov, the mayor of Kryvyi Rih, was found dead at his home. He was described at the time as pro-Russian and was reported to have a gunshot wound. The National Police of Ukraine said they were establishing the circumstances of his death and had opened a criminal case.
The reports gave no further detail on either story. Taken together, they showed Kyiv as a place of refuge for an Afghan filmmaker and a city administration in Kryvyi Rih facing an unexplained death under police investigation.
