According to his family, Bishop Oleh Vedmedenko had gone out for a walk that evening and was on his way home but never made it. The publication called its reconstruction “Returning from a Walk,” and it became the headline of the piece. Video shot by “Konkurent” helped reconstruct the sequence of events.
The accident occurred on Vasyl Moisey Avenue. According to “Volyn Infa,” the driver of the Mazda was drunk. The car struck the pedestrian, who was thrown several meters. The driver, as the publication reported, fled the scene without offering help. Passersby lifted the victim and examined him; they also called an ambulance. The bishop’s pelvic bones were shattered and his leg was torn off.
The mechanics of the collision are described differently in various reports. In one version, the car skidded on the roundabout and was thrown onto the curb; another mentions driving onto the sidewalk. The “Volyn Infa” text specifically refers to driving onto the sidewalk, so that is the version presented here.
Oleh Vedmedenko was born on September 18, 1961, in Lutsk. In 1997, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, he founded the Bible School of Spiritual Perfection and led it himself for many years. In 2006, after a conflict with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, he was ordained a priest of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Autocephaly means independent church governance without subordination to another local church, and for Ukrainian communities this was a principled choice. In 2012 he became a bishop; from 2013 he headed the Volyn and Galicia Eparchy, and from 2015 to 2019 he was the primate of the UNAPC. He served at the Lutsk church of “Christ’s Resurrection.”
A Drunk Driver with a Criminal Record
The driver’s name was Roman Savych. According to court data, he had already been convicted of an assault in Lutsk in the summer of 2020: he had then used a gas canister against municipal guards. The sentence provided for three years of restricted freedom under Part 2 of Article 350 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. On October 19, 2021, the Volyn Court of Appeal upheld this sentence. The punishment was not being enforced, and at the time of the accident Savych remained at liberty.
On the morning of November 15, the bishop died in the Lutsk City Clinical Hospital. Proceedings were opened under Part 3 of Article 286-1 of the Criminal Code, and Savych’s detention was formalized under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code, that is, without a prior court decision. That same evening, a litia was held at the church of “Christ’s Resurrection.”
Farewell and the First Court Decision
The funeral service and burial took place on November 16 in the courtyard of the church where the bishop served. The farewell took place before parishioners and clergy, and the deceased’s sons became the closest continuers of his work. Vasyl Vedmedenko, a priest, took over his father’s parish. Pavlo Vedmedenko also serves at the church.
On the same day, the Lutsk City District Court considered the question of a preventive measure. Judge Alla Palyushko, as publications reported, ordered Roman Savych held in custody for 60 days without the right to bail, that is, until January 12, 2022. The interests of the deceased’s family were represented by lawyer Roman Khomych. Savych’s first defense attorney was Orest Uryn.
“Returning from a Walk”
This phrase, with which “Volyn Infa” titled its reconstruction, remains the only direct reflection of the bishop’s last evening. According to the publication, relatives said he was walking home. The route of the walk and its endpoint are not specified in the publication, so their reconstruction relies on the family’s words and footage shot at the scene.
The bishop’s death drew responses in Ukrainian church circles and in Lutsk, where he was known as a pastor and school leader. The case of the collision on Vasyl Moisey Avenue moved forward in court the day after the funeral: on November 16, Savych remained in custody until January 12, 2022.
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