Volodymyr Vakulenko

Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Vakulenko (Ukrainian: Володимир Володимирович Вакуленко; 1 July 1972 – between March 24 and May 12, 2022) was a Ukrainian poet, children's writer, and Wikipedian, who was also involved in volunteer work and activism. He was murdered during the Russian occupation of the Kharkiv area in Ukraine in 2022. He was a recipient of the Oles Ulianenko International Literary Award and laureate of the Les Martovych [uk] Competition.

Abduction and murder

On March 22, 2022, Vakulenko and his autistic 13-year-old son Vitaliy were arrested by Russian occupiers in Kapytolivka, a Ukrainian village near the town of Izium. By then, Izium and the surrounding villages had been under Russian occupation for several days (Battle of Izium) with Russian invaders looting private homes and shops, stealing cars and committing war crimes against the civilian population. Vakulenko believed that his pro-Ukrainian views would make him a target of Russian invaders. His house was filled with Ukrainian-language books, including copies of his own, that would have been enough to arouse the suspicion of Russian occupiers.

That same day, Vakulenko and his son were returned to the cottage they shared with the author's father. Vakulenko told his parents he had been taken to a "special department" set up in the village, where he had been beaten in the groin. His family worried about his physical condition as he had become very thin during the weeks since the full-scale Russian invasion. There had been little to eat aside from the potatoes from his garden and some canned foods he had bought in Izium before the Russian tanks arrived.

On March 24, 2022, Vakulenko was abducted again by Russian invaders. A van painted with the military symbol Z pulled up to his house and a Russian soldier carrying a gun hustled Vakulenko into the van. Vakulenko was killed during the subsequent captivity. His corpse was found on May 12 in a mass grave outside Izium. He had been killed by two bullets from a semi-automatic Makarov pistol. When it was exhumed a week after the liberation, his corpse was initially misidentified despite cemetery documentation that correctly gave his surname but later formally identified using a DNA sample. Vakulenko was reburied in December 2022 in Kharkiv.

Following his death and the liberation of Kharkiv, his journal of the war, which he had buried in his backyard, was retrieved by writer Victoria Amelina and published.

Vakulenko is survived by his parents and his sons, Vladyslav and Vitaliy. In 2023 killers of Vakulenko were identified as Vladyslav Neskorodiev (commander) and S. Udodenko (executor) serving in the armed forces of Luhansk People's Republic.

Awards

• Order of Merit, 3rd class (22 January 2024, posthumously)

Tribute

On 22 May 2023, the International Publishers Association posthumously awarded Vakulenko with the Prix Voltaire Special Award 2023.