Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’s parents stranded in Kyiv, husband reveals

Hutchins died last year after she was struck by a live round inside prop gun held by Alec Baldwin

The parents ofRust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins are stranded in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv currently under attack from the Russian military, her husband Matt has said.

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine is now in its fourth week, as civilian casualties in the eastern European country continued to mount.

In a tweet from his private account, Matt Hutchins said Ukraine-born Halyna’s parents Olga and Anatoly Androsovych remained in Kyiv to “prepare for the worst”.

He also said that Olga continued to work in the hospital where she has been a nurse for over three decades “because her country needs her” and also “because they cannot escape”, NPR reported on Sunday (20 March).

Halyna’s sister Svetlana escaped safely to Romania with her three-year-old daughter and will “continue onward to western Europe”, Hutchins added.

Born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, in 1979, Halyna grew up on the Soviet base “surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines.”

She received a graduate degree in international journalism from the Kyiv National University and worked on British documentary productions in Europe, before graduating from the Los Angeles-based American Film Institute Conservatory in 2015.

The ‘Rust’ set on Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Halyna Hutchins was killed after being struck by a live round in a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin (AP)

She reportedly retained her Ukrainian citizenship after relocating to the United States.

While his tweets are protected, his Twitter bio reads: “End war in Ukraine”.

Urging a no-fly zone over Ukraine, Hutchins tweeted: “China needs to step up and do what NATO cannot. Chinese intervention to guarantee both sides will stay out of the sky and not use rocket bombardment of ground forces would boost China’s global standing and save face for Vladimir Putin.”

Halyna died on the film’s set in October last year after she was struck by a live round discharged from a prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin. Director Joel D’Souza was also injured in the shooting.

Hutchins is now suing the 30 Rock actor for Halyna’s “senseless and tragic death”. Baldwin has, meanwhile, denied any liability over the tragedy, and accused Halyna’s family of trying to get money out of him.

Halyna is survived by her husband and their nine-year-old son Andros.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered.

To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.