CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Ukrainian psychologist often called the “Oprah of Ukraine” is speaking out about the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on the LYNX Blue Line in Charlotte’s South End, calling the tragedy “shocking” and deeply resonant for Ukrainians who have already endured years of trauma from war and displacement.

Dr. Natalia Kholodenko, a well-known television presenter and trauma expert who fled Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, said she first learned of Zarutska’s death only hours before her interview with WCNC Charlotte Anchor Jane Monreal.

“I’m shocked because, for me, it’s a young, beautiful woman who didn’t make something bad for anybody,” Kholodenko said. “She went so far to be alive, and it shows which high price we need to pay just to be alive.

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