Occupiers attach explosive device to body of Hostomel village head

Kateryna Tyshchenko — Thursday, 10 March 2022, 19:07

After shooting him dead, Russian servicemen attached an explosive device to the body of Yurii Prylypko, head of the Hostomel village council, and later themselves disabled it.

Source: Rostyslav Skurativskyi, adviser to the late village head, and Mr Prylypko’s daughter Nadiia in an interview with Ukrainian independent news outlet Slidstvo.Info

Details: On 7 March, the Hostomel village council announced that the village head Yurii Pruylypko was shot dead by the Russian occupiers while delivering food and medicines to the residents of the Pokrovskiy residential complex in Hostomel.

Quote by Prylypko’s daughter Nadiia: "They (my father and four others) were driving along the main street of Hostomel when an enemy military convoy appeared, moving towards them, and started shooting at [their] civilian car. They turned around and drove into a lane which was blocked by a tractor. They had nowhere else to go and all the passengers jumped out of the car. There were snipers operating from the Pokrovskiy residential complex and they were shooting at everything around them. My father and two other guys were shot dead, two managed to escape."

Further details: According to witnesses, the body of the head village councillor was collected by a local priest, Father Petro.

"Father Petro took a cross, put on his ceremonial dress and went to collect the body," Prylypko's deputy Rostyslav Skurativskyi told Slidstvo.Info.

"When the priest came up to the body, a Russian occupier stopped him and told him not to come any nearer. The Russian then took the wires, or something of the kind, off the body, and only then helped to load the body onto the cart," said the deputy.

According to information available to Skurativskyi, the local priest took the body of the village head to the church and buried him there with full honours.

Nadiia, the daughter of the murdered mayor, confirmed this information.

According to Nadiia: "The priest testified that he [the Russian serviceman] took the wires off the body and only then let him take it. Yesterday and the day before there was no connection with the priest; perhaps his phone battery is dead. However, he had taken my father to the church and promised me to bury him there by the church.’

Slidstvo.Info were not able to speak to the priest as they were unable to reach him.