A month after leaving Ukraine, former Mediacorp star Ix Shen is back in the country – this time as part of a volunteer group providing humanitarian aid.
Mr Shen announced this in an Instagram video on Friday (Apr 8) although he did not say where he was exactly for “security reasons”.
He did assure his followers that he is in “a safe place.”
The ex-actor, who had been living in Ukraine with his Ukrainian wife Natalia since late last year, had been living in Podil, a district of Kyiv.
When Russian troops started attacking Ukraine on Feb 24, he began updating followers on the situation with a short video every day on his Instagram account.
At first, he said they would stay, as his wife, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, is a reservist in the military and might therefore be called up to serve as a medical officer in the army.
However, on March 8, he announced in an IG video: “Based on our latest information, we have decided that it’s not in our best interests to live extensively underground during the next phase of fighting.
So we’ll be evacuating from Kyiv, in the west direction, and we’re planning and moving as we go along. We’ll be safe and okay.”
The family were able to settle in Poland.
In his latest video, he said that he and other volunteers have been stocking up on supplies in Poland and then drove across the border back into Ukraine to distribute the goods in different centres.
He added that one of the centres they have gone to is in Bucha, where war crimes are said to have been uncovered.
“I believe by now you have heard about this place,” he said soberly.
Last week, it was widely reported that mass graves have been found in that city. The bodies examined in those graves showed that scores of Ukrainians had been tortured and suffered violent deaths.
“I will not be uploading any images of those victims,” Mr Shen continued. “This issue right now is being contested by different parties. Since I’m not an expert in putrefaction, I’m not qualified to comment.”
However, he added, “But I believe truth always prevail(s), because the same thing happened to us before. It’s called the Sook Ching massacre.
Eighty years ago, also in March, we had innocent civilians being slaughtered. Back then we didn’t have forensic science.
Our forefathers paid such (a) heavy price and gave us such precious lessons. How can we not unturn our backs toward such injustice?”
The incident from Singapore’s history that Mr Shen referred to occurred between Feb 18 to Mar 4, 1942, when Japanese soldiers killed en masse those who were considered to be “hostile elements” in Singapore who were resistant to the Japanese, with Singaporean Chinese as a particular target.
While the exact numbers of those slaughtered remain unknown, founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew once estimated it to be at 70,000.
/TISG
Ix Shen shows situation on the ground in Ukraine with daily IG videos