The violent death of little Valeriia in Döbeln, Saxony, sparked sympathy across the country. The nine-year-old has now been buried in her hometown of Pavlohrad in eastern Ukraine.
The girl Valeriia, who was killed in Döbeln, Saxony, has been buried in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad. “She was so full of life in everything. She never had a bad day,” father Roman Hudsenko told Ukrainian public television on Tuesday. He said he could not believe that his nine-year-old daughter had been killed. Around 100 people said goodbye at the memorial service in the grandparents’ yard. The girl was buried in the local cemetery.
Grandmother Schanna had not seen her granddaughter for more than two years. The day before she disappeared, the child had made a video call with her. “She wanted to come home for the holidays and was so happy,” she said. The girl’s violent death has caused dismay across the country. The girl from Ukraine had sought refuge from the Russian war of aggression in Germany with her mother in 2022.
On June 3, Valeriia set out for school in the morning, but did not arrive for class. A huge effort was made to search for her for days – a helicopter, drones, divers, special dogs and hundreds of police officers were deployed. A week later, her body was found in the undergrowth in a forest. According to the police, she was the victim of a crime.
A few days later, investigators arrested a suspect in Prague. The man from the Republic of Moldova who was arrested in a restaurant in the Czech capital is suspected of manslaughter and murder. He was also wanted on a European arrest warrant. He was taken into custody in Prague and an extradition request was made. There are still many unanswered questions in the case; the motive and background of the crime are not yet known.