In the 35 days since Russian troops occupied Gostomel more than 400 have gone missing, Taras Dumenko, the head of the newly created Gostomel village military administration, told Hromadske Radio about this in an extensive interview.
«We know that some people were killed, there is evidence, photos and videos, but we still can’t find them. When there was a connection, eyewitnesses were able to get us this information, but we still can’t find them. The sources who were providing information managed to escape,” Dumenko shared.
In Gostomel Russian troops killed the village head Yuri Prilipko, along with volunteers Ruslan Karpenko and Ivan Zorya, whose bodies were found.
«But we have doctor who alone provided medical care for 35 days in Gostomel, while the city was occupied and under fire. 12 days ago her husband and son were taken away. We are still looking for them. In addition, we are looking for the body of the head of the fire department of Gostomel airport, and we also can’t find him,” the government official added.
According to Dumenko, who during the days of the occupation received information regarding evacuations from the town, the Russians cleaned up the traces of their atrocities.
«You could head in the direction of Gostomel and all along the road there were shot up cars with bodies, including children. You would go back and these bodies were gone.
My hypothesis is that the more confident the occupiers felt in an area, the farther they were from the front line, the more carefully they covered their tracks, «said the head of the village military administration.
He estimates that the community now has about 5,000 residents.
As a reminder the curfew in Kyiv Region has been extended until the morning of April 7.
In Kherson russian occupiers kidnap and torture dozens of people
We were treated like criminals: a woman who was forcibly deported to russia by the russian troops