The body of a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Fr Myron Zvarychuk, was found in one of the capital's morgues. He lived in Bucha and was heading for humanitarian aid in early March. But the rushists brutally killed him, as they did with hundreds of other citizens in Bucha. It's only now that the relatives of the murdered man managed to find out about the fate of the priest, who was considered missing all this time.
At the request of his son, Myron Zvarychuk, a group of volunteers conducted a search operation, the media outlet "Facts" reports.
According to the Buchan City Council deputy, Kateryna Ukraintseva, the connection with the priest disappeared on March 3, 2022. On this day, Fr. Myron set off to get humanitarian aid for his grandmother, whom he was taking care of... It turned out that the priest received the aid and, returning, decided to shorten the path near the Yablunsky cemetery. Another witness said that on that day, a man was passing near their house but met the Russians and decided to run away, and we don't know what exactly happened next. But the witness noticed that the body of a man was found in a pit nearby. At the time of the search, the body was no longer there, and the witness could not identify the fleeing man. Kateryna Mykhailivna, his landlady, and his son gave a very detailed description of the appearance of Fr Myron and his clothes."
The detectives added the son of the missing man to a chatbot in a telegram from morgues where the bodies of victims of Russian aggression were taken in the Bucha district. Together with him, they watched this chatbot every day. And it was on Easter. In the evening, the son recognized his father in the chatbot.
"We also recognized the man by his tattoo and the cross on his body. And the very next morning, we agreed to meet together at the morgue in Kyiv, " said Kateryna Ukraintseva. "But we didn't have enough space for the missing person to die."
By coincidence, photojournalist Christopher Occhicone sent a picture of the murdered Fr. Myron in the "pit" he managed to make. As it turned out, it was an observation pit in an auto repair shop near the Yablunsky cemetery.
"We collected Fr Myron's most necessary personal belongings and went to the place where Chris took the photo. The garage where Fr Myron was most likely killed was closed. But we met another witness there who reported that there was blood under the body, and there were a lot of 5.45 shell casings near the garage. Next to the garage, there was a pile of burned personal items. After going through it, we found something similar to the remains of a burned passport, money, keys, a power bank and the second cross of Fr Myron, which his son recognized."
Based on that, according to Kateryna Ukraintseva, it was clear that FR. Myron was detained and searched, his phone was taken away, the rest of his personal belongings were burned, and the priest was shot with automatic fire, his body being thrown into the observation pit…
"The cause of death was also confirmed by the medical examiner at the morgue. It was an automatic burst in the torso and head, " says Ms Ukraintseva. "Because of the holes in the back of the head, the shots fired from the back... I don't know what provoked the murderers. He wasn't undressed, obviously, the tattoo wasn't even seen. Perhaps they decided that they had found a "Banderovite" because Fr Myron comes from the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The burial service for the priest was carried out in the church in Kyiv, where he performed his ministry. The bus with the coffin, in which they put the priest's clothes and crosses, as it should be at the burial of a clergyman, went to the Ivano-Frankivsk region, where he was finally buried next to his mother," the story says.