You're reading: Foreign teachers beaten in Donetsk

About a month before the start of Euro 2012, one of four championship-hosting cities in Ukraine turned out to be inhospitable to a couple of foreigners.

David Waddicor, 29, of England, and Chris Kearns, 26, of America, were beaten in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on May 6. The pair, volunteers in a local foreign languages learning center, had been in the downtown night club “Litsa” (Faces).

According to the press service for Donetsk city department of Interior Ministry of Ukraine, the facial part of Waddicor’s skull was fractured and Kearns suffered a broken bone in his left hand. After getting medical attention, the injured men left the hospital.

Olga Pochkalova, head of the Donetsk police press service, said the investigation is under way and suspects have been identified and confronted by police. Moreover, investigators have viewed videotapes from the nightclub’s surveillance system and interviewed visitors and staff of the nightclub.

Pochkalova gave few other details. The embassies of Great Britain and the United States expressed concern.

The victims don’t want to talk about the crime. But Olena Korostylyova, an administrator of International House DNK – where the men teach English – told the Kyiv Post that she heard the club’s security guards assaulted the pair.

“David bore the operation on his face and now undertakes treatment with antibiotics,” Korostylyova said. “Chris will have his arm in a cast for five weeks.” The men have been living in Donetsk since March and are considered good teachers, she said.

A confrontation broke out between the men and security guards. According to Korostylyova, Kearns – who speaks Russian well – tried to be the peacemaker, but the security guards “didn’t even want to hear them.”

David bore the operation on his face and now undertakes treatment with antibiotics, Chris will have his arm in a cast for five weeks.

– Olena Korostylyova, an administrator of International House DNK

The men agreed to leave the club and there was “no need to use force,” Korostylyova said. The guards assaulted the men outside the club, she said.

Several days earlier, in the Donetsk Oblast city of Konstantinovka, three Peace Corps volunteers were assaulted while in a disco by a patron who became angry after they refused his request for money, saying “all Americans are rich.”

Donetsk is the capital of Ukraine’s most populous Oblast, with more than 10 percent of the nation’s residents. Many are also involved in the steelmaking, coal-mining and chemical industries. It is also the home of President Viktor Yanukovych, a longtime regional governor there, and the nation’s richest billionaire Rinat Akhmetov.

Donetsk hosts five games at the June Euro 2012 football tournament, including the semifinal contest.

But Yaroslav Kolgushev, editor of portal “OstroV,” said people should not think that Donetsk is hostile to foreigners based on these incidents. “Donetsk will show most foreigners much friendliness,” Kolgushev said.

“Some accidents may happen. Fans must just observe common sense. That means, first of all, not drinking a lot of alcohol and not behaving cheekily. Around the stadium and in fan zones, order will be enforced by police.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Denis Rafalsky can be reached at [email protected]