Russians killed writer Vakulenko with Makarov pistol – police

Russian occupiers shot writer Volodymyr Vakulenko using a 9-mm Makarov pistol during the occupation of Kharkiv Oblast.

Source: Serhii Bolvinov, Head of the Investigative Department of the Main Office of the National Police of Ukraine, on Facebook

Quote: "A DNA profile test has now been completed, and it has been confirmed that the deceased No. 319 in Izium cemetery is Volodymyr Vakulenko. Two bullets from a Makarov pistol were found in the body. A photo was taken by a [local] resident on 12 May.

Investigators are looking for witnesses to Russian crimes; please contact the police if you have any information about the criminals."

Details: Bolvinov explained that in April 2022, police investigators registered proceedings on the illegal imprisonment of the writer during the occupation of Izium district by the Russians.

In October, Volodymyr's father contacted the police; he was sure that one of the victims at Izium cemetery was his son.

He said that on 23 March, five people, probably from the ‘LPR’ (the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic), came to their house and conducted a search. The militants detained the writer and his son, interrogated them, beat them up and released them.

The next day, two unidentified persons arrived in a car marked with "Z" [Russian symbol of the war against Ukraine that invaders usually put on their military vehicles – ed.] at their house and took Vakulenko by force. Since then, no one has seen him alive.

According to witnesses who buried Ukrainians at the Izium mass cemetery, on 12 May, Russian servicemen approached them ordering them to bury the body of a man near the village of Kapitolivka, Izium district. Witnesses noticed bullet holes in the body and the Ukrainian writer’s documents shot through. The body had remained on the street for more than a month.

Background: Journalists of the editorial office of investigations of Suspilne [Ukrainian public broadcaster] received results from DNA examinations, and they reported that a body  found during the liberation of Izium was that of Volodymyr Vakulenko, at the site of a mass grave.

The writer is survived by elderly parents and a son on the autism spectrum whom he took care of. Ukrainians on social networks are calling for financial support for Volodymyr's family.

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