In one of Kyiv’s dead houses the body of a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), Myron Zvarychuk, was found. He lived in Bucha, on Hrushevskoho Street and left his home for the humanitarian help in the beginning of March.
And just now, the relatives of the killed priest have found out about his destiny, while all this time he was considered unaccounted for, writes the Fakty newspaper.
“We’ve got the request from Myron Zvarychuk’s son, Volodymyr. Together with all our volunteering group we had a great faith that at least our first search would finish with the information about the captivity of the disappeared priest of the OCU,” told the Bucha City Council member, Kateryna Ukrayintseva.
The first evidence they succeeded to get from the dwellers of Yablunska Street made them think that the body, found in the inspection pit of the car repair shop in the same street, might belong to the priest.
He had been out of the zone of availability since 3 March 2022. That was the day when still unknown soldiers lifted the Ukrainian flag near the city council, announcing that Bucha was released. And that was the day the russians started to occupy Bucha in the second half of the day when they entered the district of Sklozavodska and moved along Yablunska Street.
The lifted flag and information on the official webpage of the Bucha City Council turned into a reason for free moving around the town for many locals. People thought it was safe in the town.
“It is most likely that Myron thought the same. He was caring for an old lady Kateryna who rented him a room. An acquaintance who was working in the social institution called Kateryna, informing that the humanitarian help and food were available. Myron left for this aid. We talked to a social worker and found out that he got this aid, and, while going back, decided to cut down the way near the Yablunivske cemetery. Another man told us that day there was a man, passing their building, but he met russians and decided to flee… We don’t know what happened then. But the witness said that not far from the place, in the inspection pit one discovered the body of a man. At the moment the search started, there was no body there anymore and to identify the man who tried to escape was impossible,” told the council member.
The search group added the disappeared man’s son to the chatbot in Telegram of dead houses that got the bodies of victims of the russian aggression in the Bucha district. They looked through this chat together every day. At Easter, in the evening, the son recognized his dad in the chatbot.
According to Kateryna Ukrayintseva, it was obvious that Myron was stopped and ransacked, they took away his mobile phone, and the rest of his personal stuff, which burnt out, and fired a burst him. After that, they hurled the body to the inspection pit.
A forensic doctor in the dead house confirmed the cause of death. That was a volley of automatic gunfire to his body and his head as the holes were in the head and the shots were made from behind.
“I don’t know what was the reason for the murder. He was not undressed so hardly they saw the tattoo. It is possible that they decided they have found a “banderivets” [a nationalist] as Myron was from the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The priest was performed a funeral service in Kyiv, in the church he was served for. And then the bus with a coffin that contained priest’s clothes and crosses as it should be at the time of churchman’s burial left for the Ivano-Frankivsk region where he was buried next to his mother,” told Ukrayintseva.