On February 4, Ukrainian cinematographer Pavlo Loyko passed away at the age of 83. He had worked for many years in the domestic film industry. The tragic circumstances surrounding his death were revealed by his neighbor, widow of composer Igor Poklad, Svitlana Poklad. She shared that in the last months of his life, Pavlo and his wife Lydia experienced incredible hardships. They were effectively left without money for food and help, suffering from hunger and cold.
Svitlana Poklad explained that the couple lived a reclusive lifestyle, hardly communicating with neighbors, and it was only after Pavlo's death that it became clear their situation was dire. For several weeks, they survived solely on water because they didn’t have the finances for even basic needs.
“Last night, a neighbor died. He died of hunger and cold,” Svitlana noted in her social media post. According to her, Pavlo's heart could not withstand the exhaustion, and his death served as a grim confirmation of the heartlessness of the social system.
After the situation came to light, local authorities, particularly the elder of Vorzel, Vyacheslav Prepodobny, promised to fund the burial from the community budget. Initial discussions about the alarming circumstances of the elderly couple’s lives prompted neighbors and volunteers to call on social services to highlight the need for support for elderly individuals in distress.
Svitlana Poklad also emphasized that such a tragedy is a signal for everyone not to remain indifferent to those in need, urging neighbors to be more attentive and support one another, as the past difficulties of the war have taught us solidarity.
Pavlo Loyko, a graduate of VGIK, worked for over three decades at the "Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Film Studio," improving Ukrainian cinema, and participated in the creation of iconic films such as "The Lost Letter."
