A court has extended the detention of a village head from the Mykolaiv region who is accused of murdering a colleague

The defendant, Viktor Prokopchuk, at his bail hearing, March 2026. Photo: NikVesti

The Bashtanka District Court in the Mykolaiv region has extended the period of pre-trial detention for Viktor Prokopchuk, head of the Pliushchivka administrative district, who is accused of the premeditated murder of Svitlana Vanzhula, an employee of the local council, and the unlawful handling of firearms.

The court issued the relevant ruling on 12 August, according to NikVesti.

It should be recalled that on 10 August, the prosecution service submitted an indictment to the court against Viktor Prokopchuk, the head of the village of Pliushchivka.

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The court granted the prosecutor’s request to extend Viktor Prokopchuk’s detention for a further 60 days — up to and including 10 October.

Meanwhile, the defence requested that the preventive measure be replaced with a personal guarantee or another, more lenient measure, but the court refused this request.

Murder in Pliushchivka

The tragedy occurred on 17 March at the village council offices in Pliushchivka, Bashtanka District, Mykolaiv Region. Investigators stated that on that day, a conflict arose between the village head, Viktor Prokopchuk, and his assistant, Svitlana Vanzhula, due to a long-standing hostile relationship. During the altercation, the man took a sawn-off hunting shotgun and fired at the woman at least three times. She died at the scene from her injuries.

The following day, 18 March, village head Viktor Prokopchuk was remanded in custody with the option of posting bail of over 290,000 hryvnias. Bail was posted on his behalf just one day later, on 19 March.

On 20 March, the public prosecutor’s office announced that it intended to appeal against the court’s decision regarding the preventive measure imposed on the village head of Plyushchivka.

The mayor of Bashtanka, Oleksandr Berehovyi, had previously commented on the incident. He refuted the suggestion that the cause might have been an alleged «unauthorised usurpation of power» in the village whilst the village head was in office. According to him, upon his return, Viktor Prokopchuk resumed his duties without hindrance, and the question of his dismissal was not raised.

NikVesti has learnt from its own sources that, a week before the murder, the victim had reported to the police that the village head had brought a shotgun to work, but the police took no action. He kept the weapon itself in his own hiding place — inside a sofa.

However, on 8 April, in response to an information request from NikVesti, the Mykolaiv Regional Police Headquarters stated that Svitlana Vanzhula had not reported to the police any threats or the presence of a weapon at the workplace of the suspect, Viktor Prokopchuk.