Gunned down on a mercy mission: Witnesses say Russian troops killed Hostomel mayor and two volunteers

“I’m here with you. We have to resist,” he said in a video message. “The weapons are coming. Our soldiers are coming. We will get through this. We just need to keep calm and protect the people around us. Thank you!”Days later, Prylypko was dead. He and another civilian, Ivan Zorya, were killed by Russian soldiers, eyewitnesses say, as they tried to deliver medicines and other supplies to people in the community. Another civilian, Oleksandr Karpenko, was killed while trying to save them.Russia has consistently denied targeting civilians during its invasion of Ukraine.But photos of the scene taken in its aftermath and images captured by security cameras on the day of the attack make it clear the mayor was traveling in a civilian car when Russian troops opened fire. There were no other cars or military vehicles nearby at the time, according to the eyewitnesses.CNN has requested an official comment from the Russian Defense Ministry on the Hostomel killings, but has not received a response. As part of an investigation into the three men’s deaths, CNN spoke to three eyewitnesses to the attack on March 3 and to several other local residents who saw Prylypko’s and Zorya’s bodies lying on the street in the days following the shooting.At one point, Kuzmak called for help, reaching out to David Sheremet, another Hostomel resident who lived nearby.”He called me and said the mayor was wounded,” Sheremet told CNN. “Everyone was connected and was supporting each other. I took the guys and we just went. When we came close, the mayor was still alive, but he had been shot … I wanted to drag him out of the line of fire and I realized that they were shooting at us from different directions.”Sheremet said Oleksandr Karpenko, one of the other two volunteers who arrived with Sheremet, was shot as he tried to help the mayor.”I saw Oleksandr fall. And the moment he falls, he gets hit by a bullet that comes out of his stomach. We ran for cover and he yelled: ‘Don’t leave me!'” Sheremet said.Sheremet said the group eventually managed to reach Karpenko; they took him home, but he died of his injuries the next morning. “We gave him whatever help we could, but it was impossible to call an ambulance and there was no chance of leaving,” Sheremet said.After Sheremet, Kuzmak and Shturma fled with Karpenko, the lifeless bodies of Prylypko and Zorya were left on the street for several days — until local priest Petro Pavlenko summoned the courage to ask the Russian troops to let him take the corpses away for burial, Pavlenko told CNN.Pavlenko told CNN the Russian soldiers allowed him to carry Prylypko’s body away using a wheelbarrow, but forbade him from retrieving Zorya. Pavlenko was only able to do so two days later, when there were no Russian soldiers left patrolling the area.”A few days later we decided to bury them in the churchyard,” Pavlenko said. It was a hasty burial, with no coffins, guests or ceremony, he said.After Hostomel was liberated from the Russians in late March, Prylypko’s body was exhumed on April 12 and examined by war crimes prosecutors.On April 14, his family was finally able to lay the mayor to rest. His grave is now marked by an ornate metal cross and an oval black and white portrait.In the picture, he is shown deep in thought, his reading glasses perched on his forehead. Underneath is an image of the Ukrainian Order For Courage, awarded to him posthumously by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in recognition of his “courage and selfless actions.”Sanyo Fylyppov reported from Lviv and Ivana Kottasová reported and wrote from London.