Kharkiv region police documented the death of 38-year-old volunteer Vladimir Kotenko from the village of Malaya Rogan, whose car was shot down by Russians from a tank on March 15.
The Communications Department of the Kharkiv Region Police reported this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
Olga Kotenko, the mother of a 38-year-old volunteer, said that on the morning of March 15, her son Vladimir and a friend went by car to the village with humanitarian aid. Near the village of Elitnoye they met with a column of Russian tanks. One of the tanks fired at the volunteers’ car from about 15 meters. The car caught fire. A friend miraculously escaped, and Vladimir died,” the message reads.
The police noted that the parents, having learned about the death of their son, broke into the scene and found a car, from which almost nothing was left.
“On the roadside and in the car, my husband and I found pieces of our son’s body, put them in bags and carried them over our shoulders. Then the locals in Olkhovka gave a wheelbarrow, on which we carried the remains for another 15 kilometers,” Olga Kotenko told law enforcement officers.
During the occupation, ritual services did not work in the village, and the cemetery was mined, so the parents buried their son in the garden.
See also: Bodies of two men found in Kyiv region who were shot and run over by invaders
The police of Kharkiv region also recorded the death of another resident of Malaya Rogan, 51-year-old Valery Kot.
“When the shelling ended, the son went out of the cellar to see what was happening and died. Comrades found him after some time at the gate. The body lay in the house for four days, after which he was buried,” the father of the deceased said.
According to law enforcement officers, the cause of Valery’s death was a bullet wound. Investigators recorded traces of automatic small arms on the front door. In addition, injuries similar to bullet wounds were found on the body of the deceased. In order to establish the cause of death, the body will be sent for examination. During the inspection of the territory of a private house, law enforcement officers discovered the remains of Russian missile weapons, which the owner removed from the roof of his household. Physical evidence will also be sent for examination.
Investigators and criminologists of the GUNP in the Kharkiv region, together with employees of the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office, examined the scenes of the incident and collected all the necessary evidence to further open criminal proceedings and bring the perpetrators to justice.
As Ukrinform reported, Russian invaders from the village of Mala Rogan was knocked out in heavy fighting at the end of March by the military of the 92nd brigade, the forces of the NGU and volunteer detachments.