During occupation of Kharkiv Oblast, Russians murdered Volodymyr Vakulenko, a children’s author

Volodymyr Vakulenko, the children's writer, was killed during the occupation of Kharkiv Oblast. The journalists of the Suspilne investigation department received the results of the DNA testing that confirmed this.

Source: Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcaster

Details: A mass burial site was discovered in the city of Izium after it was liberated by Ukrainian troops. More than four hundred bodies were discovered at the beginning of September. Burials were performed  by the local undertaker service,  which also compiled a journal containing  information on the victims. These documents led Suspilne journalists to the realisation that victim number 319 was none other than Volodymyr Vakulenko.

At first, law enforcement officers denied the information confirming that Vakulenko was buried in this grave. On air during the national joint 24/7 newscast on 20 October, the spokesman for the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office said that they discovered the body of an unknown woman as victim number 319.

However, investigators of Suspilne found a photo of the body of victim number 319,  taken before the burial. The photo showed the documents of Volodymyr Vakulenko, as well as a tattoo on the arm that corresponded to one the writer had. DNA testing has now confirmed the death of the writer.

Vakulenko was a children's writer, poet and laureate of numerous literary awards. He disappeared in the village of Kapitolivka, near Izium during March 2022. The writer's parents searched for their only son for more than half a year. The Russian occupiers had kidnapped [and then murdered] him.

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