May 17, 2025, 8:01 p.m.
(Photo: IRS-South)
In Kherson region, a Russian looter priest, who was previously served with a war crimes notice by the SBU, was killed.
According to IRS-Pivden, on the left bank of the Kherson region, the Ukrainian military eliminated Russian priest Sergei Vaida, a Russian citizen, cleric of the Tobolsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, who fought in the ranks of the aggressor's army. According to media reports, he was killed during a regular combat mission as a result of an FPV drone strike.
However, Vaida did not serve in Ukraine with an icon, but with weapons and bags of loot. Back in June 2022, during the temporary occupation of the village of Bilozerka in the Kherson region, he and his accomplice Suslov organized a looting raid. As the investigation established, they ransacked the house of civilians, taking away TVs, refrigerators, tools, agricultural equipment, as well as alcohol and household appliances.
For these actions, the Security Service of Ukraine notified Vaidya in absentia of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war committed by a group of persons).
After the crimes against civilians, Vaida continued his service as a commander of an engineering unit of the Russian army, building defensive fortifications. At the same time, Russian propaganda still calls him "apriest who died in the line of duty." However, photographs from the front show that the priest had long ago changed his cassock for camouflage.
Vaida left behind eleven children, who will now be raised by another Russian "tradition" - without a father who went to kill others to feed his own.
Earlier, the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated the commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev.
Ірина Глухова