Volodymyr Rybak’s family needs urgent help

The situation is critical, so I received consent to publicize it. The family of the Hero of Ukraine Volodymyr Rybak needs urgent help. They were among the first victims of Russian aggression.

Volodymyr Rybak was a Ukrainian politician, the Horlivka city council representative, kidnapped and then murdered by the pro-russian separatists on 17 April 2014. It was Maundy Thursday just before Easter. He was standing alone before an angry mob, demanding to restore the Ukrainian flag to the Horlivka’s town council building.

Volodymyr was abducted only because he refused to let the ‘russists’ raise the tricolor over the City Council building. 

He was brutally tortured. Then, when he was still alive, they hooked him through the ribs and drowned him in the river.  Later his body with signs of torture was found in the River Torets, along with other two bodies. The two other victims were Kyiv student Yuriy Popravka and 25-y rybakear-old Yuriy Diakovsky from the town of Stryi.

Rybak’s daughter (a schoolgirl at the time) was devastated by the loss of her father. Improper treatment resulted in serious deterioration of her health. Her mother quit her job to be with her daughter all the time. Therefore they are forced to live on social benefits. The family has never publicly asked for help. They remained alone with this trouble; only a few people know about this situation and support them. The family is in despair, so it is necessary to act quickly.

We are looking for: a psychiatrist abroad who works with complex cases; payment for this treatment and accommodation abroad.

I will be grateful for any ideas and advice sent to me in a private message. If you want to support the family financially, write to me, I will send a personal card of Olena Rybak (Volodymyr’s wife).

The photo shows the banner we hung on Instytutska Street on the anniversary of his tragic death.

Here you can watch the last video of alive Volodymyr Rybak, showing his last public words and the moment when he was kidnapped.

Please contact directly Oleksandra Matviichuk for further possible war ti help Volodymyr’s family. Any donation matters!

Ukraine Front Lines

Tags: donetsk oblast horlivka russia ukraine war