One of the most high-profile events of recent weeks is the murder of two brothers, Roman and Maksym Moseychuk, residents of the village of Kalynivka in the Kyiv region. Former brigade commander of the 155th brigade, Stanislav Luchanov, is suspected of organizing this crime. According to the investigation, at the end of June, his subordinates, on his orders, abducted the Moseychuks, took them to a military unit in the Poltava region, and then killed them. The police believe that Luchanov gave such an order after the Moseychuks insulted his wife. To understand what happened there, Suspilne spent several days in Kalynivka.
In a report from there, we talk about the complicated history of the Luchanov family’s relationship with the rest of the village, as well as how the relatives of the deceased are experiencing the tragedy and threatening vigilante justice if the case is not investigated and considered properly.
“As soon as you enter, bitch, I’ll shoot you!”
On the night of June 28, 32-year-old Kalynivka resident Rustam Pilipov was chopping firewood in the yard near his house on the outskirts of the village. He serves in the army and came home on leave. Suddenly, two shots rang out in the neighboring yard. This was the dacha of 36-year-old Roman Moseychuk and his year-younger brother Maksym. The brothers did not live there, but only kept cars and a motorcycle, repaired them, and occasionally relaxed with fellow villagers.
After the shots, Rustam heard Roman threatening someone: “As soon as you enter, bitch, I’ll shoot you!”. His brother tried to calm him down: “Roma, calm down, or they’ll call the cops now and it’ll be worse!”. About 40 minutes later, a minivan drove up to the entrance of the brothers’ dacha and later drove away from the village. Rustam assumed there had been a quarrel, the brothers had shot someone, and the neighbor’s van had taken the wounded to the hospital.
— I wanted to call the cops, but without antagonizing the neighbors. I inserted another SIM card. I thought, I won’t introduce myself, I’ll say I’m a serviceman, that the shooting is disturbing my sleep. But there was no signal. And now I think, maybe it was electronic warfare jamming the signal, Rustam told Suspilne.
The village of Kalynivka in the Kyiv region, from where two Moseychuk brothers were abducted, July 13, 2026. On July 7, the police detained the suspected abductors, and two days later found the brothers’ bodies in a grave near the training ground of the 155th brigade near Poltava. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
The Moseychuks have a third younger brother, Serhiy, who lives in Rokytne, a town 15 kilometers from Kalynivka. The next day, he couldn’t reach his brothers: their phones were switched off. A few days later, he came to look for the guys and went to the dacha. In the garage, someone had smashed the monitor displaying images from the surveillance cameras, as well as the control panel with the server where the recordings were stored. On July 3, six days after the shooting, Moseychuk Jr. called the police and filed a missing person report for his brothers.
Police began a search and analyzed video from road surveillance cameras. Soon, they informed Serhiy Moseychuk that the brothers had been abducted by seven servicemen from the 155th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Anna of Kyiv. Its commander, 46-year-old Stanislav Luchanov, married Kalynivka native Daryna Przhehornitska a few years ago, whose parents still lived in the village.
Serhiy Moseychuk, the younger brother of the murdered Roman and Maksym Moseychuk, shows the garage at the family dacha in Kalynivka. Kyiv region, July 13, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
Luchanov headed the 155th brigade in February, and before that, he was the chief of staff of the 425th “Skala” brigade, the leadership of which has recently been accused of torturing recruits.
On July 7, the police detained the suspected abductors, and two days later found the brothers’ bodies in a grave near the training ground of the 155th brigade near Poltava. However, the relatives were not told about this at first. The village did not know where the guys were, and Luchanov remained at large – and then the agitated relatives of the Moseychuks turned to hromadske journalists. Only after their report did law enforcement officers publicly announce what had happened. And the “Pivnich” operational command announced that Luchanov had left his unit without authorization and disappeared.
On July 11, he was detained in Kyiv and charged with organizing the abduction and murder of the brothers. The police stated that on his orders, the Moseychuks were taken to the training ground near Poltava, held there for two days, and then killed. The investigation stated that the Moseychuks quarreled with Luchanov’s wife because “the young men were listening to loud music and riding motorcycles.” The brothers “used obscene language,” the brigade commander demanded an apology, but they “refused in a rude manner.”
Serhiy Moseychuk with his wife and a friend of the Moseychuk family, Olga Metelska (right), in Kyiv near the morgue for identification, July 13, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
“They drank like everyone else, but they weren’t rowdy”
Kalynivka is a village with one street a kilometer long and about 300 inhabitants. The deceased Roman Moseychuk lived here in a private house with his wife, and Maksym lived in a two-story house with his sick mother. The brothers earned money by construction and repairs, and before the full-scale war, they went abroad for work together.
— They were thrifty, hardworking, not stupid. The garden was always clean and planted, their close friend and godmother of their younger brother, Olga Metelska, recalls in a conversation with Suspilne. — I can’t say they were teetotalers. Everyone celebrates, everyone drinks, but they weren’t rowdy. In their youth, maybe they fought – but everyone fought, and I went into that fight with these guys. But they didn’t kill each other. They fought, and then they put a three-liter jar of vodka on the table to make peace.
Olga Metelska, a close friend of the Moseychuk family, in Kalynivka, Kyiv region, July 13, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
In March 2022, the brothers’ father volunteered and persuaded his godson Vasyl Dmitrienko to fight.
— He opened the door and said: “You’re going to warm eggs at home, and I’m going to fight?!” And I replied: “Yes, of course, let’s go, godfather!” — Dmitrienko recalls.
One of the Moseychuk brothers, Maksym, also volunteered. He became a grenadier in the National Guard, took part in the battles for Irpin, and his father, along with his godson Vasyl, fought as part of the 28th brigade in the Kharkiv region.
— In ’23, we dug trenches in positions near Kupyansk. And somehow, the godfather and four other guys were transporting boards in a pickup truck. And they hit a mine. Those sitting in the cabin were torn to pieces. Only half of the godfather came back, Dmitrienko sighs.
Vasyl Dmitrienko is the godfather of one of the Moseychuk brothers. Together with their father, his godfather Serhiy Moseychuk, he joined the army as a volunteer in March 2022. Serhiy died in the Kharkiv region in 2023. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
Shortly after their father’s death, his son Maksym was demobilized. His mother, the wife of Moseychuk Sr., took her husband’s death hard and had a stroke. After the murder of her sons, fellow villagers did not know how to tell her what had happened to her sons for several more days. They hid the TV remote and made sure she didn’t watch the news. During the interview with the Moseychuk relatives, we move away from their two-story house so she doesn’t hear anything.
— To be honest, we’re afraid she won’t survive it, says the brothers’ friend Olga.
“If I hear anyone riding around again, I’ll kill them”
In the center of the village, a tall fence is splattered with red paint and adorned with inscriptions “Scum,” “Executioners,” and “Murderers.” Behind it is the house of the Przhehornitskys, Daryna’s parents — Luchanov’s wife. She graduated from military school, then went to serve in the army, where she met the brigade commander and gave birth to two children. Locals say that before their marriage, the Przhehornitskys lived modestly, and after – they carried out expensive renovations, surrounded the yard with a high fence, covered it with cameras, bought a new car and ATVs. According to neighbors, their family always lived separately, and recently became even more distant from the village.
The house of the Przhehornitskys, parents of ex-brigade commander Luchanov’s wife Daryna, in the center of Kalynivka, July 13, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
Across the road from the Przhehornitskys is the village club, where young people listen to music, and a stadium where boys often ride motorcycles, some without mufflers. According to locals, the noise annoyed Daryna and Luchanov. Tetyana Syumar, a saleswoman at a nearby store, tells Suspilne that a few weeks ago, the brigade commander yelled at her 16-year-old son, who was riding past on a motorcycle.
— He stopped him and said: “I have young children, and you are waking them up!” Dasha ran up and said that this wasn’t the right boy, he rides quietly. And then Luchanov said: “Gather your gang of these motorheads, and we’ll talk to you. And if I hear anyone riding around again, I’ll kill them,” Syumar recounts.
On June 26, the day before the brothers disappeared, two men in civilian clothes with weapons entered her store. Another saleswoman, Lyudmyla Petrova, was behind the counter. The men introduced themselves as military police and showed her a list of five villagers they were looking for.
— I read the list, and they were our local people. But among them was a minor. I asked: “Guys, it seems to me that these people have nothing in common. What is your reason for being here?” They replied that these guys had said something wrong to someone, and they needed to talk to them,” the saleswoman recounts.
She refused to show them where people lived, so the men bought ice cream from her and left. Later, the police found out that these were fighters from the 155th brigade who abducted the Moseychuks the next day. According to Lyudmyla, most of the guys on their list had motorcycles, and Luchanov had argued with one of them about noise before. The saleswomen believe that these soldiers were going to punish all of them on Luchanov’s orders.
— You can’t do that! If you are an adult, a brigade commander – approach the guys like a normal person and say: “Guys, we don’t like you riding around there.” Do you think our children are stupid? They are not. They would have listened, says Liliya, the mother of a 17-year-old boy whose name was on the list, to Suspilne.
Saleswomen Tetyana Syumar (right) and Lyudmyla Petrova (left) and a resident of the village, Liliya – the mother of a 17-year-old boy who was on the list of those searched by the fighters of the 155th brigade in the village on the day the Moseychuks disappeared. Kalynivka, July 13, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
After the disappearance of the Moseychuk brothers, she was very scared for her son.
— We want everyone to be punished justly, so that we can live peacefully in this village. Because our children are afraid, and those who gave testimony,” adds Liliya.
— They took a human life for nothing! You are a soldier, you are supposed to protect us, not take lives! — indignantly says saleswoman Lyudmyla.
The women do not know what specifically drove the brigade commander to kill the Moseychuks. The brothers were not on the list shown to her subordinates, although they had a motorcycle. But their younger brother Serhiy was. He also cannot explain it. According to him, he never had conflicts with Luchanov and the Przhehornitskys, nor did he hear that his brothers quarreled with them. None of the Kalynivka residents interviewed by Suspilne saw the brothers insult Luchanov’s wife, which, according to the investigation, was the motive for the murder. But some witnessed their conflict with another relative of the Przhehornitskys.
Young people in the center of Kalynivka, July 13, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
“Our hands, conscience, and souls are not stained with blood”
The inscriptions “Executioners” and “Murderers” are painted on another fence at the exit of the village, opposite the Moseychuk brothers’ dacha. Lyudmyla Ryabkina lives here – the own sister of Luchanov’s mother-in-law. Neighbors claim that she and her daughter, who occasionally visits Kalynivka, often argued with the Moseychuks because they were noisy.
— It didn’t bother other neighbors, but it bothered Lyudka! And she walked around the collective farm shouting, my son-in-law will come and set things right! — says Rustam Pilipov, who lives next door to the Moseychuk dacha, in a conversation with Suspilne.
To find out Ryabkina’s opinion, Suspilne journalists knocked on her gate, and a short, energetic elderly woman came out. She swears that she had nothing to do with the murder and first heard about the brothers’ disappearance from the police almost two weeks after it happened.
— My daughter and I told them (the police – ed.) that we had no conflict with the guys. Our conscience before them and before God is clear. Our hands, conscience, and souls are not stained with blood! — shouts Ryabkina for the whole village to hear, clearly intending for as many people as possible to hear her.
Villagers walking by do not greet her.
— Even my best friends, or rather, those who used to be friends, don’t talk to me! They’re probably afraid of what will happen to them too! It’s very, very scary, our people don’t know the truth! — she shouts.
Lyudmyla Ryabkina, the own sister of ex-brigade commander Luchanov’s mother-in-law, shows her thanks from the military for baking them cookies in front of her house. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
Although Ryabkina says she did not have conflicts with the Moseychuks, she admits that her daughter once called the police when they were noisy at night. No one came then. The woman claims that the brothers constantly disturbed them and had alcohol dependence, but the village does not want to admit this.
— Last fall, we dug up potatoes and sorted them with my daughter. Maksym came to visit us, my daughter talked to him and said: “Maksym, let’s go to Kyiv with me, you’ll go through rehabilitation.” So, there was a reason! — the woman says.
At the same time, she claims that she never complained about her neighbors to her son-in-law and has no idea what could have caused the abduction and murder.
Ryabkina brought out thank-you letters from the military for baking them cookies. The woman complains that her fence was vandalized undeservedly, but she does not intend to paint it over.
— I would like to see all those people who wrote all this to me, who gossiped behind my back, who posted this dirt on Facebook. I want them to stand before me and tell me to my face why they think that way and why they did that! — shouts Ryabkina.
The fence of Ryabkina’s property at the exit of the village opposite the Moseychuk brothers’ dacha is also painted with inscriptions. Kalynivka, July 13, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
None of the locals Suspilne spoke with confirmed her words that the brothers abused alcohol and were very noisy.
— Would an alcoholic have such a well-kept, planted garden? An alcoholic would have nothing. The guys could, like anyone else, sit on a weekend and drink beer. They could get together and grill shish kebabs. But no one would call them alcoholics, Rustam the neighbor insists.
“I’m ashamed to sit on this bench”
July 14, Rokytne settlement. Police officers, armed with assault rifles, escort Luchanov into the courtroom to choose a measure of restraint.
— Did you order the brothers to be killed? — journalists ask.
— No.
— And who did it?
— I believe the investigation should establish that.
Prosecutors announce that the brigade commander gave the order to abduct the Moseychuk brothers “for personal reasons,” without specifying what they were. According to them, on July 27, seven servicemen from his brigade arrived in Kalynivka. The group was commanded by Senior Sergeant Bohdan Shurko. They entered the Moseychuk dacha, where one of the soldiers, Andriy Zaiets, shot Roman twice in the leg. Later, during interrogation, he explained that he wanted to scare away a dog and accidentally hit Moseychuk. Then, the soldiers bound the brothers’ hands and feet, blindfolded them, put them in two different cars, and took them to military unit A5001 near Poltava. What happened to the brothers there, the prosecutors did not clarify.
Two days later, according to the investigation, the brigade commander, “in order to conceal the crime,” ordered battalion commander Oleksiy Dolgolenko to kill the brothers. On July 1, he took the Moseychuks to the training ground, ordered them out of the car one by one, shot them, threw them into a pit, and buried them.
Guards escort former commander of the 155th OMR “Anna of Kyiv” Stanislav Luchanov into the courtroom of the Rokytne District Court of Kyiv region, July 14, 2026. The lieutenant colonel is suspected of organizing the abduction and murder of two brothers Moseychuk. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
All of the brigade commander’s subordinates were arrested earlier. In court, combat commander Dolgolenko stated that he would cooperate with the investigation and asked to “ensure the safety of his family.” Senior Sergeant Shurko, who commanded the abductors, said that the commander had ordered him to take the brothers away and said they had left the unit without authorization.
The brigade commander does not admit guilt.
— I disagree with the suspicion and am ready to cooperate with the investigation. During this period, I was on leave and, according to the regulations, could not give instructions to anyone,” Luchanov says calmly.
His lawyer emphasizes that the case materials do not contain evidence against the brigade commander. According to him, the soldiers who abducted the brothers were following Shurko’s orders, who refused to testify during interrogation. And the protocol of the interrogation of the alleged killer Dolgolenko is not in the case, so it is unknown who gave him the order.
During the break, Luchanov assured journalists that he did not know the Moseychuk brothers and had never discussed them with his wife. The brigade commander claims that he was not aware of the abduction of the brothers and their appearance in his unit at all, as he was on leave.
— After the path I have gone through, I am ashamed to sit on this bench, knowing that I am innocent,” the brigade commander says.
The court granted the prosecutors’ request and sent him to custody for two months without the possibility of bail.
Former brigade commander Stanislav Luchanov during a session of the Rokytne District Court of Kyiv region, July 14, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
“They will face consequences”
An hour before the court session, the village elder and an ambulance arrived at the home of the Moseychuk mother. The relatives finally decided to inform her about what had happened and called medics just in case. Neighbors, who had been protecting the woman from the news in recent days, froze in anticipation.
Suddenly, a loud crash was heard from the street. It turned out that the deceased’s cousin could not bear the tension, took a metal pole, and began to hit Ryabkina’s fence – the only relative of Luchanov remaining in the village.
Neighbors began to calm her down, and it stopped.
— Don’t, Olya, it’s not worth it,” one of them persuades the woman.
— Let her come to the boys’ mother and see! I called her so that she would be present too! — cries the sister of the deceased.
— If this is all swept under the rug, there will be vigilantism here,” sighs her neighbor. — They will face consequences. All of them must be punished by law.
Olga (right), the cousin of the deceased Moseychuk brothers. Kalynivka, July 14, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
***
The murdered Maksym and Roman Moseychuk were bid farewell the day after the court hearing. At the beginning of the procession, the youth of Kalynivka drove past Luchanov’s house, revving their engines loudly.
Young people on motorcycles accompany cars carrying the bodies of the murdered Maksym and Roman Moseychuk from the morgue to their home on the day of farewell in Kalynivka. Kyiv region, July 15, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
The aunt of the Moseychuk brothers and Roman’s wife Olga say goodbye to their relatives in the yard of the two-story house in Kalynivka, where Maksym lived with his mother. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
Comrades-in-arms of the murdered Maksym Moseychuk at the head of the funeral procession in Kalynivka, July 15, 2026. Roman and Maksym are two of three sons in the family. Their father was a soldier, killed near Kupyansk. Maksym served as a grenadier in the National Guard, defended Kyiv in the early days of the full-scale invasion, and was discharged after his father’s death. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko
Serhiy Moseychuk, the youngest son in the family, with his wife near the grave of their father Serhiy Moseychuk, who died in 2023 near Kupyansk. His two older brothers, who were abducted and killed, are buried next to their father. Kalynivka, July 15, 2026. Suspilne Novyny/Ivan Antypenko