Murals dedicated to Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee brutally murdered by a repeat criminal in North Carolina, have been vandalized in New York and Florida.
Zarutska fled war-torn Ukraine only to be fatally stabbed from behind on a Charlotte light rail train in August by Decarlos Brown Jr., who had already been arrested and released 14 times.
The murder was captured on horrific surveillance footage and released to the public.
The nationwide mural campaign, largely funded by Elon Musk and other donors who raised over $1 million, intends to honor her memory and raise awareness of the perils of Democrat cities allowing violent offenders off the hook.
The artworks have appeared in cities including Washington DC, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Pensacola, but have become targets for vandalism by deranged leftists.
In Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, a massive two-story mural on the side of a Taiwanese restaurant was unveiled in January. Within a week, it was vandalized with graffiti reading “F-ck Trump” scrawled across the lower section.
This is a mural in loving memory of murdered Ukrainian refugee from Putin’s war Iryna Zarutska, funded by @elonmusk, vandalized with “Fuck Trump” sprayed on it and the Reddit post calling it “Fascist”.
That’s all you need to know about the “progressive” left. https://t.co/UfqOkNIBdJ pic.twitter.com/NtZqvhfdxc
— Mike Larson (@uxm1ke) February 5, 2026
A Brooklyn resident who lives by the mural was not happy about it, telling the New York Post, “This woman — it’s unfortunate what happened to her — but how do you connect her to Bushwick?” It is unclear if he had the same opinion of the George Floyd murals that popped up nationwide.
Another mural on Delancey Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side met a similar fate. Photos shared on social media show it defaced with spray paint saying, “Please vandalize this,” accross her face.
Predictably, a mural on Delancey Street that was dedicated to Iryna Zarutska was vandalized. pic.twitter.com/6FjmOOFX5T
— Crime In NYC (@Crime_In_NYC) February 5, 2026
Florida has seen even more aggressive vandalism, particularly in Pensacola, where artist Rod Man independently painted a mural on a local bridge in September.
The artwork, reading “Pensacola Mourns You” with a heart, was defaced within a day of completion. Vandals spray-painted over Zarutska’s face and added commentary mocking her death.
The memorial mural for 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Pensacola has been vandalized.
Locals painted it to honor her memory after she was brutally stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail by a repeat offender who should never have been free. The mural read… pic.twitter.com/8wcU4L1PKC
— Alvina Birch (@AlvinaBirch) September 17, 2025
The mural was vandalized at least three times.
Supporters of the murals are refusing to back down, with more planned nationwide.
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