Death after the VLK: He was supposed to be taken to the hospital, but he ended up at the assembly point: the family says the police and the TCC in Mykolaiv region took fatal actions

In the Mykolaiv Oblast, the story of the death of 44-year-old Volodymyr Kolesnyk is gaining wider attention. According to the family and their lawyer, a man who had severe injuries and required urgent medical care was directed to mobilization activities, and during the MMC he was declared fit for military service.

Documents provided by the family indicate that Volodymyr Kolesnyk had a closed chest injury, fractures of the 8th–9th ribs, hemopneumothorax, subcutaneous emphysema, and a mental disorder. Nevertheless, according to the lawyer, appropriate medical response did not occur.

Relatives say that on 8 May 2026, seeing the man’s critical condition, they called an ambulance. Paramedics, they say, insisted on immediate hospitalization. However, according to the family, the situation was then intervened in by officers of the Bashtanskyi District Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Mykolaiv Oblast.

In the family’s and lawyer’s appeal it is claimed that the police allegedly assured the medics and the man’s mother that they themselves would take him to the hospital. Instead, the deceased’s side alleges that Volodymyr Kolesnyk was taken to the Mykolaiv Regional Assembly Point “Dubky”.

The family’s lawyer calls such actions not mobilization but the deprivation of a person’s chance for timely medical care.

“This was not mobilization, but a cynical deprivation of a person’s chance to survive, — comments the deceased’s family lawyer. — The police acted contrary to their duties: they misled the medics and relatives, effectively abducting a person who required urgent medical attention. They did not just ignore the law — they used their official powers to carry out a criminal scenario.”

The family raises separate questions to the military-medical commission of the Inhulskyi District Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support. According to the lawyer, during the medical examination on 08.05.2026 the available medical documents and the man’s actual condition were not taken into account.

The appeal also references Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 560, which regulates mobilization procedures. The deceased’s side insists that in the case of Volodymyr Kolesnyk both procedural requirements and the need for a full medical examination with the involvement of specialist physicians, in particular a surgeon and a psychiatrist, may have been ignored.

According to the lawyer, while at the MMC the man was disoriented, yet the commission chaired by Vladimir Oleksandrovych Prykhodko declared him fit. In documents, the family claims, instead of severe injuries the term “chronic bronchitis” was recorded.

The family’s lawyer states that the MMC conclusions require not an internal explanation but a legal assessment.

“This is not a medical error, this is a criminal falsification of documents, — emphasizes the lawyer. — The commission members did not simply ignore the medical documentation, they deliberately turned the examination procedure into an instrument of destroying a person. They essentially put their signature under a verdict for someone who was already in a condition bordering on death.”

According to information set out in the appeal, already after two days following that examination Volodymyr Kolesnyk was taken to the hospital in an extremely severe condition. Medics, the family’s side says, found about 700 milliliters of blood in the pleural cavity, displaced fractures, and post-traumatic anemia.

Soon after hospitalization the man died.

The family also raises questions about what may have happened to Volodymyr Kolesnyk while he was under the control of officials. The appeal mentions signs of injuries on the body after death, as well as the need to check whether physical violence was used against the man.

The family’s lawyer points to bodycam recordings that could be important for establishing the circumstances of the case.

“We ask a direct question: was physical violence used against the helpless man during his detention? — says the lawyer. — Law enforcement are trying to hide the answer to this. Bodycam recordings that could have been key evidence were strangely “destroyed” after 30 days of storage. This is not procedure, this is a deliberate erasure of traces of a crime.”

The family of Volodymyr Kolesnyk demands a full, open and impartial investigation of the actions of the police officers, officials of the Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support, as well as members of the military-medical commission. The appeal separately calls for a response from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) and the prosecutor’s office.

The deceased’s side publicly questions the leadership of the Bashtanskyi District Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support and the MMC of the Inhulskyi District Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support: how, given the presence of rib fractures, hemopneumothorax and a severe health condition, could the conclusion include “chronic bronchitis”?

This case requires not behind-the-scenes explanations but an open investigation. During wartime mobilization is indeed a matter of the state’s survival. But precisely for that reason it cannot be turned into a conveyor where a person with severe injuries becomes just a “unit” in a report.

The editorial office is ready to publish the position of the Bashtanskyi District Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Mykolaiv Oblast, the relevant Territorial Centers for Recruitment and Social Support, the MMC, the DBR, the prosecutor’s office and other authorized bodies regarding the circumstances of Volodymyr Kolesnyk‘s death.

Previously we wrote:

• The Ministry of Defense will check all Territorial Centers for Recruitment: complaints of illegal detention and violence will be reviewed
• In Odesa region, 9 men from regional TCRC were detained for torturing and sexually assaulting conscripts
• People behind bars “until paperwork is done”: a statement from the Odesa TCRC shocked social networks
• People with mental disorders and disabilities in the Territorial Centers for Recruitment: Lubinets released the results of the inspection
• Cherkasy region: confrontation between TCRC employees at a company — gas, a shot and proceedings for the abduction of a man