Family, volunteers speak after a missing man was found dead in Red River
Posted April 19, 2026 5:35 pm.
A family is looking for answers as a Ukrainian refugee who had been reported missing in January was found dead late Saturday night on a riverbank in Winnipeg’s Norwood neighbourhood.
Anatolii Ishchenko came to Canada in the summer of 2022, fleeing from the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Then, on January 22 this year, he vanished.
Oksana Burchak was coordinating the search efforts and knew Ishchenko before his disappearance. She says, just before Ishchenko went missing, he was terminated from his job.
“For him, work was one of the pillars. So that’s why it was a huge pain for him,” said Burchak.
According to Burchak, Ishchenko was seeking medical help and was admitted to Victoria Hospital on the day he went missing.
“He was having panic attacks. He needed help, and he realised he needed help,” said Burchak.
Ishchenko left the hospital around noon and was last seen at 4 p.m. on Pembina Highway. His body was found on the riverbank this Saturday, almost three months later.
“The water started rising, and the river took him to where he was found,” said Burchak.
Dennis Mashevsky, Anatolii Ishchenko’s cousin, came to Winnipeg from the U.S. to join the search team, only to get the news that his cousin’s body had been located.
“I found out that my cousin was found in the river yesterday. I am very grateful that we found him,” said Mashevsky.
“He seeked help, he took medical advice, he took care of his physical health, and he did what he could to survive this.”
CityNews reached out to Winnipeg police on Sunday morning, but was told the police had no information to provide at the time.
Ishchenko’s family and friends are still searching for answers about the cause of his death, as they are expecting more information from the medical examiner.
