True Crime Cases in Ukraine

The cases I have mapped across Ukraine reach from a political killing that shook the country to some of the most disturbing serial murders recorded in the post-Soviet era. In 2000, investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze was abducted, strangled and beheaded near Kyiv, a crime that grew into a national political crisis.

Several entries here document Ukraine's place in the record of prolific serial murder. Anatoly Onoprienko, known as the Terminator, killed entire families across the country before his conviction, and Serhiy Tkach, the Pology Maniac and a former police forensics expert, evaded capture for decades. The Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs, two young men who filmed several of their random killings in 2007, are also among the cases I researched.

Each case is plotted where it happened and summarized from the public record. This is a small set, not a verdict on a country, only the documented cases I have been able to confirm so far.