Dmytro Koval — Skelia

Date 21.03.2026

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.

50-year-old Dmytro Koval from Volyn died on 21 March 2026 in a servicemen's car. Babel gives unspecified cardiomyopathy as the cause. His wife Liliia described bruises on the body.

Chronology

  • 06.03.2026 — he entered the regiment.
  • Witnesses told Babel he was silent and frightened, prayed six or seven hours a day and refused food. When he spoke about his rights, he was beaten.
  • 21.03.2026 — he died in a servicemen's car.

Accounts

Wife

At the morgue his wife Liliia did not recognize him at first. She told Babel:

"The face is exhausted, I would say tormented. Bruises on the hands, bruises on the legs, bruises on the neck. And on the face, across almost the whole right side, a long stripe, as if he had been hit with his head. On the back there is an odd dent, a real pit."

She later knew him by the moles on his face. He is survived by his wife and a small daughter. Babel recorded these words in a conversation with the wife.

On 11 April 2026 Volyn quoted Liliia Koval's statement to the police:

"Since I was told that contact was possible only on weekends, I called the unit hotline especially persistently on Saturday and Sunday. On 21 and 22 March I also called with requests they found nagging, and they answered cynically that he would definitely get in touch, BUT …, as it later turned out, my husband died on 21 March."

The same article cites certificate No. 1035 of 28 March by doctor I.A. Burov. It gives the cause as unspecified cardiopulmonary failure. A preliminary certificate, according to that text, says death occurred in a car as a result of illness. As of 11 April the body was still in the Kovel morgue. The Baptist community obtained a murder investigation through the Kovel city-district court.

Regiment

The roster gives cardiomyopathy as the cause of death. Witnesses differ on whether the refusal to eat was a fast or a protest.

Sources