Khoma Volodymyr

Date 13.06.2026

Source note: official statements, media reports, eyewitness accounts, and social media claims are presented as claims by the respective sources. They are not treated as established facts without independent confirmation, forensic documents, or a court ruling.

Khoma Volodymyr

Biography

Volodymyr Khoma, 46 years old (born 1980), a resident of Lviv. Father of six children, two of whom are minors (youngest daughter 11 years old, oldest son 23 years old). His status as a father of six children gave him a legal right to a deferment from mobilization.

He worked at the Lviv company LLC "Sankom" (waste collection). He previously had a deferment from his employer, but after temporarily leaving and then returning to his job, he had not yet managed to renew it.

Military Medical Commission (MMC): Passed the MMC on February 17, 2026 — declared fully fit for military service. He never complained about his heart and rarely visited doctors.

Timeline

  • June 13, 2026, morning — Getting off a bus and walking to work in Lviv, Khoma was stopped by employees of the Sheptytskyi RTCK and SP and mobilized right on the street.
  • June 13, 2026, evening — In a phone call with his son, he reported that he was already in the Zhytomyr region (at the training ground). "From the conversation, my brother said that dad was quite sad, but normal. He didn't complain that anything hurt him or bothered him" (words of his daughter Ruslana). This was the last contact the family had with their father.
  • June 14, 2026, 21:48 — Death was recorded in a tent at the training ground in Zvahel. The medic of the battalion's medical unit confirmed the death. Legally, Khoma was enrolled in military unit A5348 (50th Separate Mechanized Brigade), although he had never physically arrived there — he was undergoing BMT (Basic Military Training) at the training center.
  • June 15, 2026 — The Zhytomyr Region Police opened criminal proceedings under Art. 115 of the Criminal Code (intentional homicide) with the note "natural death." The family was not notified.
  • June 22, 2026 — His wife filed a missing person report with the Shevchenkivskyi District Police Department in Lviv. She had previously contacted the Lychakivskyi RTCK but was not even let inside — she was told at the entrance that "everything is fine with her husband."
  • June 24, 2026 — Only then (10 days after the death) did the training center send a notification of the death to the Sykhivskyi RTCK.
  • June 25, 2026 — The family learned of the death not from the RTCK or the military unit, but from third parties during their own search. For 12 days, all responses were: "he is alive, healthy, everything is fine."
  • June 26, 2026 — Relatives received official notification No. 115, listing the cause of death as "biological death." It was delivered by Sykhivskyi RTCK employees (at the family's place of residence) without any psychological support: "They just brought it, no psychological help. They gave that piece of paper, turned around and left. That's it" (words of his daughter).
  • June 27, 2026 — Having learned that the body was in the morgue in Zvahel, the family immediately went there. It turned out there were no orderlies — relatives had to retrieve the body from the cold storage themselves.

Key Details and Contradictions

Official Version

  • Forensic medical examiner Volodymyr Komanitskyi (Zvahel) established the cause of death as "hypertrophic cardiomyopathy" (HCM). HCM is usually detected during ECG and echocardiography. The family asks: how did the MMC declare him fit for service in February 2026 if he had this condition? The examiner declined to comment on the autopsy findings, citing the ongoing investigation.
  • The Zhytomyr Region Police stated: "During the examination of the body, the forensic medical examiner found no visible signs that would unambiguously indicate a violent nature of death."

Family's Version

During the examination of the body at the morgue, the family recorded on video:

  • significantly worn-down front teeth;
  • large hematomas in the area of the liver and spleen;
  • numerous abrasions and injuries on the limbs.

The forensic examiner did not photograph the body before the autopsy. Only after the family's questions did he begin photographing it, explaining this was "so there would be no complaints against him later." When asked to see photographs taken before the autopsy, he replied that there were none, claiming it was not required by procedure. During the conversation with relatives, he named different causes of death: cardiovascular problems, a possible epileptic seizure.

Investigator and Proceedings

Criminal proceedings were opened on June 15, but investigator Yaroslav Knyazyuk notified neither the family of the opening of the case nor of the death of their father. When asked "Why?", he replied: "Was I supposed to do that? Is it written somewhere?" — despite the fact that notification No. 115 contained all of the mother's contact details. The investigator refused to provide documents for the family to obtain victim status, citing the day off. The situation only changed after widespread social media attention.

The family is preparing a petition to have a repeat forensic medical examination conducted in Lviv (the body has already been transferred there).

Government Response

  • Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets took the case under personal control. His representative in the Lviv region, Taras Podvirny, sent an official inquiry to the Lviv Regional RTCK and SP.
  • The Temporary Investigative Commission (TIC) of the Verkhovna Rada examined the case at a session (July 7, 2026). The fact of mobilization and the 10-day delay in notifying the family of the death were confirmed. The representative of the Lviv Regional RTCK, Vitaliy Mishchanin, confirmed: the notification to the Sykhivskyi RTCK arrived only on June 24.
  • The RTCK stated that no internal investigation was conducted within the center — the case was handed over to the police.
  • The Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Field of Defense of the Central Region assured a "full, comprehensive, and impartial investigation of all circumstances of the event."

Sources

Media

Video