“We are collecting the remains of the dead piece by piece”: law enforcement officers spoke about the investigation into the mass murder of civilians by the russians in the village of Groza, Kupyansk District

On October 10, Kharkiv Media Hub hosted a briefing by Serhiy Bolvinov, the head of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region, who spoke about the progress of the investigation by Kharkiv law enforcement officers into the mass murder of civilians by russians in the village of Groza, Kupyansk district, which took place on October 5 this year.

At the beginning of the event, the official spoke about each victim of the russian terrorist attack, which became the most massive in terms of the number of dead in the Kharkiv region since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the aggressor country. The officer, who had seen a lot during his service, could not hold back tears:

– These people were in a cafe where they commemorated their fellow villager, Ukrainian serviceman Andrii Kozyr, who died in March 2022 near Popasna and was buried in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, as the village of Groza was under occupation. His son Denys, also a military man, decided to rebury his father. It was on this day, October 5, that the russians carried out a missile attack, during which Denys Kozyr, his wife, mother, her parents and 47 other people died.

Serhii Bolvinov noted that Mobile DNA laboratories, criminalists and investigators work around the clock for the fifth day without breaks or weekends.

– Despite the extremely difficult moral conditions, we are collecting fragments of the bodies of the dead residents of the village of Groza literally piece by piece and establishing their identities. We examined 135 remains, Serhii Bolvinov noted.

At the moment, according to him, forensic experts have already identified 53 people, that is, the number of dead has officially increased by two. The officer also noted that these data are not final, as DNA examinations are ongoing, and five people are still considered missing. Only 28 bodies were immediately identified at the scene of the accident. The condition of the rest was unrecognizable.

– Another 25 people were identified during the work of law enforcement officers: according to the results of investigative actions – 11 bodies, through DNA research – 14. In the last 5 days, we conducted 288 DNA researches – in any country of the world, experts have such a volume of work perform throughout the year!

The speaker also emphasized that, taking into account the still unidentified body parts and reports of missing persons, the final number of victims of the terrorist attack may increase.

– This briefing is a response to the Permanent Representative of russia to the UN, vasiliy nebenzia, who on the evening of October 9 called the rocket attack by the occupiers on the village of Groza a “legitimate target”. He justified this terrorist attack by the fact that the funeral of “one of the high-ranking Ukrainian nationalists” was taking place in the village and “other military personnel” were present there, Serhii Bolvinov emphasized.

The head of the Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region also said that the search for the person who directed the fire of russian terrorists in the village continues.

– At the moment, we do not have a suspect. Work continues. In order to establish it, we interviewed more than 50 people from Groza and other settlements. The Security Service of Ukraine is also working on this case, the speaker noted.

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