Police prepare to assign third suspect in Volodymyr Vakulenko's murder

Photo by Volodymyr Vakulenko on Facebook

Police are preparing to assign suspect status to the third man implicated in the case of children's author Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was murdered during the occupation of the Izyum district, reports Serhiy Bolvinov, chief of investigations at the Kharkiv Oblast Police, in an interview with Ukrinform.

Namely, a suspicion notice is being prepared for a so-called "LPR" operative with the call sign "Academic", who is considered a co-perpetrator of the crime.

"The 'LPR' formation was subordinated to a Russian army unit, and, accordingly, was accountable to them. There were four of them: a case against two is already in court, and recently we identified a third, with the call sign 'Academic'. We are already certain of his last name, and now a suspicion notice for him is being approved," Bolvinov said.

He added that the investigation in the case would continue in order to establish all the details of the murder.

As the IMI reported, Volodymyr Vakulenko was born and lived in Kapitolivka village (near Izyum, Kharkiv oblast) with his son. Shortly after Kharkiv oblast was occupied, the Russian military took him away from his home, and his family never saw him again. After the de-occupation of Kharkiv oblast, his body was discovered in a mass grave in Izyum.

According to the police, the Russians killed Vakulenko with a Makarov pistol; two bullets were found in his body. The writer was buried on December 6, 2022, in Kharkiv.

In November 2023, the police identified two Russian soldiers involved in the shooting of Ukrainian children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko and the murder of three more people during the occupation of Kharkiv oblast.

In January 2024, the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office submitted an indictment against two Russian soldiers suspected of murdering the Ukrainian children's writer Volodymyr Vakulenko and three other people during the occupation of Kharkiv oblast to court. Both men were born in Luhansk. They serve in the Company No.4, Battalion No.4, rifle regiment No. 204 of the mobilization reserve of the so-called "LPR", Second Army Corps of the Combined Arms Army No. 8 of the Southern Military District of the AFRF. These are the company's commander (call sign Lion) and his subordinate, a machine gunner nicknamed Hoopoe.

According to Slidstvo.Info, Vakulenko's murder was ordered by a Luhansk man whose sister survived the occupation of Irpin.