Disappearance of fishermen in Odesa region causes conflict

The Liman community in Odesa Oblast has been searching for two fishermen who disappeared during a night out at sea for several weeks. Amid the lack of results, a public conflict broke out between representatives of the national park and local authorities over responsibility for the tragedy.

The head of the community Vasyl Reznichenko reported on the situation, emphasizing that the search is ongoing, but there are no results yet. At the same time, the tension around the case is growing.

A few weeks ago, the community of Lyman in Odesa Oblast was shaken by the news of the disappearance of two local residents, Roman and Yevhen. The men went missing on March 27 while fishing at night in the Black Sea. A considerable amount of time has passed since then, but their whereabouts are still unknown.

The story gained additional resonance after an employee of the Tuzly Estuaries National Park, Ivan Rusev, posted a post in which he blamed the Border Guard Service for the disappearance. This position provoked a sharp reaction from local authorities.

Reznichenko, in turn, questioned the role of the national park itself in the events, noting that neither the representatives of the institution nor its management recognized responsibility for what was happening on its territory. He publicly asked how exactly the fishermen were able to go out to sea from the park and where the guards were at that moment.

The head of the community also drew attention to possible informal connections: according to him, the acting director of the national park, Iryna Vykhrystiuk, had known one of the missing men, Roman, for a long time, and, according to local residents, he had been allowed to fish in the park for years.

In this regard, Reznichenko called for an audit of the activities of the management of the National Park, including Vykhrystiuk and Rusev. He emphasized that the community has the right to know all the circumstances of the tragedy and to receive a clear answer as to who is responsible for the disappearance of the people.

On the third day after the disappearance, the men's wives, Alina and Anna, said that the police were gradually expanding the search area. The relatives are appealing to all possible witnesses to provide any information that could help in the search.

Law enforcement officers have preliminarily established that on the night of March 27, both men went fishing in the Black Sea. They sailed on a green rubber boat, probably a Kolibri, from the area between the settlements of Roseika and Lebedivka. Local police officers, water police units and the Border Guard Service were involved in the search operation.

Анна Бальчінос