Two Russians involved in shooting of Ukrainian writer Vakulenko identified

The Prosecutor General's Office has identified two Russians involved in the shooting of Ukrainian children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko and the murder of three more people during the occupation of Kharkiv Oblast. They will be put on the wanted list, the Prosecutor General's Office reports. Source: Prosecutor General's Office

Quote from Prosecutor General's Office: "Two Russian soldiers were served with notice of suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war (Article 27.2, Article 28.1-2, Article 438.1-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The suspects are serving in the 4th Company of the 4th Battalion of the 204th Rifle Regiment, a mobilisation reserve of the 2nd Army Corps, a LPR [so-called Luhansk People's Republic - ed.] force inside the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The perpetrators are the commander of this company, aka Lev ["Lion"], and his subordinate, a machine gunner Udod. Both are natives of Luhansk".

Details: According to the investigation last year, the suspects were deployed in the then-occupied village of Kapytolivka, Izium district. They found out that Ukrainian children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who opposes Russia, lives in the village. On 22 March 2022, armed occupiers arrived at Vakulenko's house and conducted a "search" there, after which the writer and his 14-year-old son were detained.

Russians took them to their place of deployment and tried to persuade the writer to cooperate "with the new government". After rejecting the proposal, the writer and his son were sent back home. On 24 March 2022, Russians returned and, this time, "detained" only the writer.

After that, Lev, the commander of the company, ordered his subordinate, a machine gunner, to shoot the writer. Udod shot at the man with a Makarov pistol. As a result of his gunshot wounds, Vakulenko died on the spot.

The suspects are charged with the murder of three more civilians: a man who had taken part in the Joint Forces Operation, and two others. It is reported that the Russians kept these people in a cellar in unsanitary conditions, without electricity, and systematically beat them all over their bodies with sticks. Later, they were taken to the forest in Kapytolivka, where they were killed.

Forensic analysis established that the two victims were killed by shots from a Makarov pistol. The third victim was beaten to death by the Russians. Law enforcement officers established another fact of ill-treatment of the civilian population by suspects.

They forced a hryvnia note into the mouth of one of the 'detainees'. The Russians added that if the man takes it out of his mouth, they will shoot him. However, they released the civilian after holding him in a cellar in inhumane conditions.

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