Pro-Russian forces are raising their heads in the Vinnytsia region: who is behind them

In the Vinnytsia region, a regular meeting of residents of a small village scheduled for tomorrow, April 19, may turn into an unauthorized rally with anti-Ukrainian slogans. UNN received this information from its sources in law enforcement.

Hraniv is a village that is part of the Krasnopil territorial community of the Haisyn district of Vinnytsia region. An initiative group suddenly appeared in this village and decided to hold a meeting of residents near the Krasnopil village council building on April 19.

At first glance, the initiators of the meeting do not plan anything illegal. They want to talk to the village head and the deputies about the distribution and use of budget funds, to reproach them for allegedly ignoring the interests of the community. The organizers of the event also want to initiate a procedure for recalling some deputies and demand an extraordinary session of the village council.

Of course, I would like to ask the members of the initiative group why, in the third year of full-scale Russian aggression, they decided to suddenly engage in small-town political showdowns, and whether this action has any other, hidden purpose.

According to information received by UNN from its sources in law enforcement agencies, there is a high probability that a regular meeting of residents of Hraniv could turn into a spontaneous rally with pro-Russian slogans and anti-Ukrainian sentiments.

And it has to do with who exactly is behind the organizers of the meeting and manipulating them.

This is the former village head of Hraniv, Viktor Bodniuk. After Hraniv joined the Krasnopilska community, he lost his position. But he did not lose his desire to return to power and lead people.

Bodnyuk's involvement in the event was confirmed by the head of the initiative group, Andriy Grabovoy, in a commentary to UNN.

When Bodniuk found out that we were going to get together, he called us himself. He told us where to start.

Residents of Hraniv call Bodniuk a local all-powerful feudal lord who gets away with everything, and they are right. The former village head is the de facto owner of the Bodniuk farm, which is formally registered in the name of his wife and daughter, and has been involved in numerous criminal proceedings.

Bodniuk was suspected of seizing the property of a local agricultural enterprise, tax evasion on a large scale and causing material damage to the state, beating fishermen on a local lake and killing two dogs.

The cynicism of the latter crime has outraged the residents of Hraniv. Bodnyuk was driving around the village in his car, stopped near one of the yards, and for no reason at all shot two dogs, owned by a 15-year-old teenager, with a shotgun with a silencer.

This case, like all the others, never came to a logical conclusion, because Viktor Bodniuk has a hopeful "roof" in the form of a law enforcement officer with many years of experience, the current head of the Police Department No. 3 of the Main Department of the National Police in Vinnytsia region, and his son, Maksym Bodniuk.

By the way, he was involved in the case of the incident on the lake. He claimed that he was at the scene, but did not interfere in the conflict. Instead, witnesses claimthat it was Bodniuk Jr. who severely beat one of the fishermen.

In 2023, the community of St. Nicholas Church finally decided to transfer to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and completed all the necessary documents. However, supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate seized the church and did not allow the OCU parishioners to enter.

Viktor Bodnyuk also supported the lovers of the "Russian world" and the Moscow church.

According to media reports, Bodniuk was involved in the B2B Jewelry scam.

He is also very fond of various awards and honors.

This, and not only this, connects Bodniuk with Hennadiy Mazur, a member of the Vinnytsia Regional Council from the Batkivshchyna party.

In journalistic investigations , Mazur was also named as one of the architects of the jewelry pyramid.

And he also loves various honors and awards, especially from the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Party of Regions is no stranger to Viktor Bodniuk. According to media reports, Bodniuk enjoyed the favor of Viktor Ratushniak, the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Yanukovych, for which he regularly received his share of funds from the former head of Hraniv's business. Ratushniak is suspected of involvement in the shootings on Maidan and is hiding from the investigation.

According to residents of Hraniv, Bodniuk regularly communicated with a certain Svitlana Sikorska. This woman was detained a month ago for handing over air defense positions to the enemy, passing on information about the location of military airfields, critical infrastructure, the movement of military echelons, etc.

The detainee is the wife of Stepan Sikorsky, former head of the Haisyn District State Administration and District Council.

For Viktor Bodniuk, a man with a dubious past and ambiguous political connections, even an ordinary village meeting can be a great opportunity to satisfy his political ambitions. Even if it means playing along with Kremlin propaganda.