I told my mom, "Just don't provoke them," says son of deceased blogger Ruda Pani
Journalist, blogger Oksana Haidar (pseudonym Ruda Pani) died on March 15, 2022 in Shevchenkove village, Brovary district, Kyiv oblast. The Russians hit the house where she stayed with her elderly mother with mortar fire. Her son Andriy Korkin shared this story in his interview with IMI.
He noted that he last spoke with her three hours before her death.
According to Andriy, it is still unclear whether the occupiers targeted their house deliberately. He has two theories.
"Somebody could have told them that my mother was a well-known pro-Ukrainian journalist or that I was in the army. That could also have happened," Andriy said, and added, "I told my mom, 'Just don't provoke them, don't try to do something, because they will shoot you down and move on.' Fortunately, my mother listened to me. There were a couple of times when their search groups and squads visited the house. At first they were searching for men in the village. They visited a couple of times. It was a mixed company. Mom recognized that there were some guys from the Wagner group, Caucasians, and conscript soldiers. From what my mother told me, they were rude, but restrained. They didn't start mess in public, but they behaved rudely and offensively."
According to Andriy, he learned about the death of his relatives from a friend who was in the village's self-defense unit. He got to the house after the shelling and was the first to discover the bodies of the deceased Oksana Haidar and her mother.
As IMI reported, on April 8, 2022, law enforcers opened an investigation into the deaths of journalist, blogger Oksana Haidar (Ruda Pani) and her mother Lydia Haidar, who were killed by Russian shelling. According to the investigation, the bodies of both women were found on April 7 in a garden in one of the yards of Shevchenkove village, Brovary district, Kyiv oblast.
The criminal case was opened under Article 438 p. 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Violation of the laws or customs of war).
Oksana Haidar was known under the pseudonym Ruda Pani, and published history-related posts on her Twitter account, condemning Russia's policies.
She wrote her last tweet on March 11, where she reported on the situation in the Russian-occupied Kyiv oblast.
“Since yesterday, we have no electricity, the Internet connection is barely there. Russians aren't letting anyone leave – they fire at cars and even bicycles, shooting people to death. People can only sit quietly in their homes. The humanitarian catastrophe is a matter of a month, top. I'm deleting Twitter, hope to see you again. Everything will be Ukraine!" Ruda Pani wrote.
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