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05-04-2022, 10:40 PM
https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/05/we-have-s...-16409738/
![[Image: Mayor-message-SNIP-5db7.jpg?quality=90&s...=540%2C528]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Mayor-message-SNIP-5db7.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=540%2C528)
Olga Sukhenko posted a defiant message to her villagers after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine (Picture: Facebook)
Olga Sukhenko is said to have been ‘kidnapped’ by Moscow’s troops before her body was found in a pit alongside those of her husband and son.
They were apparently taken from their home in Motyzhyn, 31 miles to the west of Kyiv, before being killed and their bodies dumped in a wood.
Olga was the equivalent of the village’s mayor, while her 25-year-old son, Oleksandr, was a trophy-winning footballer. Her husband, Igor, was also a prominent community figure.
A desperate appeal for information about the trio was issued on social media a fortnight before their bodies were found.
Daria Belenitsyna said on Facebook that they had been taken by Russian troops, who were also said to have stolen Oleksandr’s car when they seized the family on March 23.
She wrote: ‘This is my second family, they helped people to the end, carried medicines, groceries. They were taken from their own house.’
The Sukhenkos were said to have been ‘tortured and murdered’ by the invaders, according to a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser who spoke to the Reuters news agency.
Anton Herashchenko said: ‘The occupiers suspected they were collaborating with our military, giving us locations of where to target our artillery.
‘These scum tortured, slaughtered and killed the whole family. They will be held responsible for this.’
The bodies, said by AP journalists to have been bound and blindfolded, were found as Ukrainian personnel cleared the area following the withdrawal of Russian forces from towns and cities to the north of Kyiv.
A fourth body lying close by in the sand – believed to be a volunteer serviceman – has not been identified.
Photographs showed three of the corpses lying uncovered on the ground and another in an open sewage pipe.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk further confirmed that the village head was killed while being held by Russian troops.
![[Image: PK58Y7.jpg]](https://snipboard.io/PK58Y7.jpg)
Olga Sukhenko posted a defiant message to her villagers after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine (Picture: Facebook)Olga Sukhenko is said to have been ‘kidnapped’ by Moscow’s troops before her body was found in a pit alongside those of her husband and son.
They were apparently taken from their home in Motyzhyn, 31 miles to the west of Kyiv, before being killed and their bodies dumped in a wood.
Olga was the equivalent of the village’s mayor, while her 25-year-old son, Oleksandr, was a trophy-winning footballer. Her husband, Igor, was also a prominent community figure.
A desperate appeal for information about the trio was issued on social media a fortnight before their bodies were found.
Daria Belenitsyna said on Facebook that they had been taken by Russian troops, who were also said to have stolen Oleksandr’s car when they seized the family on March 23.
She wrote: ‘This is my second family, they helped people to the end, carried medicines, groceries. They were taken from their own house.’
The Sukhenkos were said to have been ‘tortured and murdered’ by the invaders, according to a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser who spoke to the Reuters news agency.
Anton Herashchenko said: ‘The occupiers suspected they were collaborating with our military, giving us locations of where to target our artillery.
‘These scum tortured, slaughtered and killed the whole family. They will be held responsible for this.’
The bodies, said by AP journalists to have been bound and blindfolded, were found as Ukrainian personnel cleared the area following the withdrawal of Russian forces from towns and cities to the north of Kyiv.
A fourth body lying close by in the sand – believed to be a volunteer serviceman – has not been identified.
Photographs showed three of the corpses lying uncovered on the ground and another in an open sewage pipe.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk further confirmed that the village head was killed while being held by Russian troops.
