The head of a Ukrainian village issued a final defiant message on Facebook before she was allegedly seized and killed by Russian forces.

Olga Sukhenko is said to have been ‘kidnapped’ by Moscow’s troops before her body was found in a pit alongside those of her husband and son.

They were apparently taken from their home in Motyzhyn, 31 miles to the west of Kyiv, before being killed and their bodies dumped in a wood.

Olga was the equivalent of the village’s mayor, while her 25-year-old son, Oleksandr, was a trophy-winning footballer. Her husband, Igor, was also a prominent community figure.

Olga is said to have refused to co-operate with the occupiers before their bodies were found on Saturday and photographed partially covered in sand.

In a final post on her Facebook page, Olga wrote: ‘Dear residents, we have someone else’s scum in our village.

‘Be careful. Don’t leave your houses. Stay calm.’

The 50-year-old posted the picture message on February 27, the third day of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

At the time, Moscow’s troops, including paratroopers and special forces, were meeting with fierce resistance from Ukrainian defenders as they attempted to advance on the capital from the north and west.

Olga had remained in the village after it was occupied by the invaders in order to help others, despite being able to leave, according to reports on Ukrainian social media channels.

A desperate appeal for information about the trio was issued on social media a fortnight before their bodies were found.

Daria Belenitsyna said on Facebook that they had been taken by Russian troops, who were also said to have stolen Oleksandr’s car when they seized the family on March 23.

She wrote: ‘This is my second family, they helped people to the end, carried medicines, groceries. They were taken from their own house.’

The Sukhenkos were said to have been ‘tortured and murdered’ by the invaders, according to a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser who spoke to the Reuters news agency.

Anton Herashchenko said: ‘The occupiers suspected they were collaborating with our military, giving us locations of where to target our artillery.

‘These scum tortured, slaughtered and killed the whole family. They will be held responsible for this.’

The bodies, said by AP journalists to have been bound and blindfolded, were found as Ukrainian personnel cleared the area following the withdrawal of Russian forces from towns and cities to the north of Kyiv.

A fourth body lying close by in the sand – believed to be a volunteer serviceman – has not been identified.

Photographs showed three of the corpses lying uncovered on the ground and another in an open sewage pipe.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk further confirmed that the village head was killed while being held by Russian troops.

Reuters could not immediately verify who was responsible for the killings.

Olga was the starosta of the village, which has around 1,010 residents, making her the equivalent of a mayor or council leader.

According to a Ukrainian news and media channel, she and her husband were taken after a search of their home.

The Russian troops apparently promised Oleksandr that they would be returned alive but ‘after some time’ he was taken too, TRS Boryspil said.

In a post on Facebook, the channel said they were ‘tortured and killed by the Russians’ before being dumped in the shallow grave.

The Kyiv-Svyatoshinsky Football association described the family as ‘exemplary’ and said: ‘They desperately defended their native village when the hour of trouble came, and died like heroes.’

Igor was described as a ‘knowledgeable entrepreneur’ and the co-president of the rural Kolos football club, who had worked to develop young players.

The Facebook post goes on to say that Oleksandr helped many people to escape the village while it was under occupation by Russian forces, whose withdrawal from population centres on the approaches to Kyiv last week has left behind evidence of horrific war crimes.

The family was the victim of a ‘violent kidnapping’ before their deaths, according to the association.

Mounting evidence of war crimes has led to calls for Vladimir Putin to be put on trial in the International Criminal Court.

Hundreds of bodies have been found in towns and villages around Kyiv, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Many were discovered with their hands tied behind their backs and to have suffered gunshot wounds.

Cases of alleged war crimes by Russian troops documented by Human Rights Watch include two incidents of civilians being seized and shot dead and another of a woman being raped at knifepoint.

Moscow has denied breaching international laws and has said reports of civilians being killed are fabrications aimed at smearing Russia.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed reports of atrocities in the town of Bucha, including images of civilians lying dead with their hands tied behind their backs, as ‘staged provocations’.

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