Kyiv self-immolation and rising COVID-19 deaths: Ukraine, 12 October 2020
A look back at a day shaped by a veteran's protest in the capital and a new high in daily pandemic deaths.
What was the mood in Ukraine on 12 October 2020? Two reports from the preceding days framed it: a veteran's act of protest in Kyiv and a grim milestone in the pandemic.
On 11 October 2020, in the centre of Kyiv, Mykola Mykytenko, a veteran of the war in eastern Ukraine, set himself on fire. The act was a protest against the current authorities' policy on resolving the conflict. He died from his burns on 14 October, two days after the date covered here.
A day earlier, on 10 October 2020, the number of daily COVID-19 deaths in Ukraine exceeded 100 for the first time since the pandemic began. According to a statement from the National Security and Defence Council, the figure jumped to 108. In total, 4,887 deaths had been recorded since the first cases were reported in the country.
The two reports concerned very different matters, but both were part of the public record as the week began on 12 October 2020.
