The Bodies of Three More Ukrainians Killed in Russia Have Been Identified in Ukraine Thanks to DNA
Serhii Diedovskyi from the Chernihiv region, Andrii Pashchenko, and Serhii Shevtsov from the Kyiv region were civilians abducted and taken to Russia in 2022. They did not return alive. Their identities were confirmed through DNA testing.
Serhii Diedovskyi
Serhii Diedovskyi lived in the village of Kamianska Sloboda in the Chernihiv region, near the border with Russia, and was engaged in agriculture. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the man ended up under occupation. On March 23, Russians broke into his home, searched his house, took his documents, and abducted him. As soon as Ukrainian forces liberated the Chernihiv region, Diedovskyi’s sister, Liubov, filed a missing person report with the police authorities. Half a year later, Russia confirmed to the ICRC that Serhii was in their custody but did not disclose his detention location. Only in the winter of 2023 did a released civilian inform that Serhii had been held with him in a detention center in Ryazhsk. A year later, Liubov discovered that her brother had first been held in Ryazhsk and then transported to Mordovia, where the Russians kept both civilians and Ukrainian prisoners of war together, barely fed them, and treated the soldiers with particular cruelty.
Serhii Diedovskyi in Russian captivity. Photo from Russian Telegram channels
Soon after, in April 2024, Liubov received a call from the morgue in Poltava with the heartbreaking news—during the latest exchange, Serhii’s body had been returned from Mordovia.
—The body was returned in a pink women’s sweater, burnt and torn. Camouflage pants and a camouflage jacket. Apparently, they returned him in whatever he wore, — Liubov recounts.
According to the documents, the man died on February 15 due to heart problems. However, Diedovska emphasizes that in 2022, she saw a photo of her brother on a Russian Telegram channel, where a red mark resembling strangulation was visible on his neck.
Andrii Pashchenko
Andrii Pashchenko was a construction worker from Dymer in the Kyiv region. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, he sent his family abroad. However, he refused to abandon his home, remaining in the occupied territory. After capturing Dymer and other settlements in the Kyiv region, the Russians began mass abductions of locals. Some were held in nearby torture chambers, while others were transported to Russia. The Pashchenko family was not spared. On March 5, 2022, Russian forces first abducted Vasyl Volokhin, the husband of Andrii’s sister. Witnesses reported that he was taken at the turnoff to Hlibivka. The Russians accused Vasyl and Andrii of being spotters.
Andrii Pashchenko, abducted by Russians from Dymer
Later, on March 29, the invaders came to Pashchenko’s house. They searched his home and abducted Andrii along with another brother, Oleh Chernenko. The two were taken to a field, beaten, and had their legs broken. Subsequently, they were held for several days in a pit in occupied Katiuzhanka in the Kyiv region.
— The pit was about two and a half meters deep. There were four of us at first. By the second day, there were already 16 people, — Oleh recalls.
The Russians did not give the captives any food or water. They had to relieve themselves in the same pit, with air temperatures dropping to 0°C. The men were dressed lightly. A few days later, Chernenko and several other civilians were taken to a house near Katiuzhanka, where they were locked in and told not to leave until morning. They were informed that the building was allegedly mined. Later, they were released. The remaining civilians, including Volokhin and Pashchenko, were taken to the Russian Federation.
Oleh Chernenko (left) and a documentarian of MIHR near the pit where the Russians held the abducted brothers. The pit is in a forest where Russian soldiers had dug trenches and established their positions. Photo: Viktor Kovalchuk
In August 2022, the men, held in the detention center of Novozybkov, Bryansk Oblast, sent letters. Later, it was discovered that Vasyl was transferred to a detention center in the Tula Region. However, there was no news about Andrii for almost two years. In April 2024, Ukrainian law enforcement summoned Sofiia to undergo a repeat DNA test — a match was found with a body returned from Novozybkov in 2023. “The date of death: October 9, 2022. The cause of death is unknown, death in captivity,” the documents state.
— He loved justice, so that’s why they must have tortured him to death, — Sofiia Pashchenko speculates.
The exact cause of Andrii’s death remains unknown to his family: only his bones were returned, making it impossible to conduct further examinations to determine whether he was tortured in Russia.
Serhii Shevtsov
Serhii Shevtsov lived in Hostomel, Kyiv region, where he worked installing boilers. Shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion, he was hospitalized with a broken leg and underwent surgery. On February 24, 2022, all patients were discharged from the hospital. Due to his injury, Serhii could not evacuate and stayed in Hostomel with his mother. From the early days of the occupation, Russians stationed their military equipment among residential buildings. They also broke into homes, evicted some residents, and occupied apartments. In the Shevtsov’s apartment building, the Russians posted a guard who would not let anyone out or in.
—They broke into our home. They didn’t destroy our phones but ordered us to remove the SIM cards. We handed them over, and one of the Russians tried to break them,—Klavdiia Shevtsova recalls.
Later, the occupiers repeatedly threatened Sergei with execution due to his negative attitude toward them.
Abducted in the Kyiv region Serhii Shevtsov
As the man was prematurely discharged from the hospital due to the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, he had to remove his own stitches. The wounds were festering, and the Russians provided Shevtsov with medication, but the situation worsened. He went with his mother to the ‘Yahoda’ residential complex, where the Russians were stationed.
—I came and said, ‘Shoot him or do something because my son’s leg will have to be amputated,’ Klavdiia recounts.
The Russians treated his wounds and let him go home, but on March 22, 2022, he left the apartment and never returned. For two weeks, his mother searched for her son until one of the residents of the ‘Yahoda’ residential complex told her that she had seen a man with a bandaged leg and wearing a jacket similar to the one Shevtsov had, being taken away by Russians on a tank.
After Hostomel was liberated, police visited Serhii’s relatives and took his personal belongings for DNA samples. In mid-2024, it was discovered that several months earlier, in December 2023, Serhii’s body had been returned during an exchange. Experts determined that he died from a chest wound. There was a Russian tag on his body with the date of death: March 23, 2022, meaning Serhii died the day after his abduction. Only now have his relatives been able to say their final goodbyes. It remains unknown which Russians abducted and illegally detained Serhii. His family is now trying to uncover the details of his murder.
