Mass rapes, tortures and murders of peaceful Ukrainians in Bucha: eyewitness accounts and chronicle of Ukrainian genocide

In early April 2022, Ukraine and the world were shocked by information about the mass killings of civilians by the Russian military in the city of Bucha near Kyiv. What was revealed after the liberation of Kyiv region from occupation testifies to the Kremlin’s purposeful and planned policy of genocide of the Ukrainian people.

And the crimes of the Russian military in Kyiv region, which was under occupation for a relatively short time, are just the tip of the iceberg – what horrors the Russians are doing in other occupied territories, one can only guess so far. Many settlements in eastern and southern Ukraine are under occupation, including the regional center of Kherson.

The number of people killed by Russian troops in Bucha alone is already higher than the number of victims of the Vukovar massacre in Yugoslavia in 1991. Between 255 and 264 people were then the victims of the massacre of Croatian captives and civilians in Vukovar, committed by Serbian military volunteers and Yugoslav forces in 1991.

The massacre in Bucha: how the truth about the genocide of Ukrainians in Kyiv region was revealed

Immediately after the retreat of Russian troops from Bucha, photo and video evidence of the deliberate killing of civilians by the Russian occupiers began to appear. The details of the Russian atrocities are horrifying.

The location of the bodies of some of the killed citizens shows that the Russian military killed them just while they were moving around the city on their business – like, for example, these cyclists.

The last seconds of the civilian from the last photo were even captured on video from a quadcopter and were published by The New York Times.

However, this does not indicate the «accidental» nature of the killings of civilians. After all, dozens of bodies of Ukrainians were found with their hands tied behind their backs and shots fired in the head – they were also lying right in the middle of the streets. Hundreds more were found in mass graves. This shows that the shootings were purposeful and planned and carefully calculated.

The characteristic handwriting of Russian executioners is also striking – many of their victims have their hands tied behind their backs, killed by one or more shots to the head or torso. In this way, mainly men aged 16 to 65 years were executed. Their bodies were often thrown straight into the open.

But invaders from Russia also killed women and even children. A photo of the hand of a woman killed in Bucha with a bright red and piercingly life-loving manicure flew around the world and became one of the symbols of the terrible crimes against humanity committed by the Russian occupiers in Ukraine.

It has already become known that the murdered 52-year-old Ukrainian woman was called Iryna, she came to Bucha the day before the invasion for a make-up lesson. «Daughter, in my old age I finally understood the most important thing – you need to love yourself and live for yourself! And, finally, I will live the way I want! So you live now as your soul desires, not for your husband, but for yourself!» – Anastasia Subacheva, a makeup artist, retold her words at the last meeting.

Satellite images show that the bodies of those killed on the streets of Bucha began appearing there on March 9, shortly after the city came under Russian occupation.

Although it has already become known that the Russian military began shooting at civilians in Bucha for no reason immediately after capturing the city on March 3.

The fact that the massacres were organized by Russia’s senior management is also evidenced by the fact that at least three mass graves of civilians were found on the territory of Bucha alone.

The first mass grave site, according to satellite images from the American company Maxar Technologies, appeared in Bucha on March 10 near the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called and All Saints. The size of the trench dug by the Russian invaders is 13.7 meters.

After the liberation of the city, the bodies of 67 people were found there. This was announced by Andriy Levkivsky, the Director of the Irpin City Center of Primary Health Care.

According to the mayor of Bucha Anatoliy Fedoruk, a mass grave site was also found on the territory of «Ukragropostach» enterprises, where «the Russian occupiers dumped the bodies of people with their hands tied like firewood». There are also Vokzalna, Yablunska streets and «The Promenisty»

children’s camp, where they also found people with their hands tied and bullet holes.

The mayor of the city says that there are still cars on the streets of Bucha in which «whole families of dead people – children, women, grandmothers, men». Some cars had «Children» written in large letters in Russian, but it was still the occupiers who shot whole families in cold blood.

In one of the buildings of «The Promenisty» camp, the Russian military set up a real torture chamber. After the liberation of the city, law enforcement officers found the mutilated bodies of five men there. They were shot a few days before retreating from the city. Before that, they were abused – the hands of several of them were tightly tied to the skin with white cable ties. One has at least three bullet wounds – face, knee and heart. Another was beaten for a long time with a blunt object, probably a gun-butt, on the head.

«Soldiers of the armed forces of the Russian Federation tortured unarmed civilians and then killed them», the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said in a statement.

Against the blood-splattered wall, the policemen laid out 21 shell casings collected in the basement – approximately four shots for everyone.

In total, on the evening of April 6, 320 civilians of Bucha were tortured and killed, and the search for other victims continues. «Most of them died as a result of shootings, not shelling. Almost 90% are bullet wounds, not shrapnel», Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk told DW.

But the tragedy in Bucha, which terrified the whole world, is not the biggest even in Kyiv region – all the occupied settlements suffered – Gostomel, Borodyanka, Irpin, Makariv and others.

«In fact, in terms of people and victims, the worst situation is in Borodyanka. I think we will talk about Borodyanka separately. There is something more to talk about there», said the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova.

«Russian World» without exaggeration: torture and rape

In addition to the deliberate extermination of Ukrainian civilians, the Russian military also resorted to mass torture of residents of the occupied settlements and rape, including children.

Thus, one of the residents of Bucha reported that she and her husband had been tortured by the Russian military for four days. Despite the woman’s pleas, the latter was constantly beaten, as a result of which he died.

The Russians visited their house at about 8 p.m. First, they beat her husband with machine guns at the entrance, and then went up to the apartment and began a search. «The search did not last long. They took me and my Pekingese dog and took us to the second floor, where they had headquarters», the woman said, noticing that she and her husband were being led with their hands tied and their heads bowed.

The woman was later released and her husband remained in captivity. She was later told about the bodies of two men in the basement. «I came… I recognized him by his sneakers and trousers. He, poor thing, was laying wet himself. His face was mutilated, he was already cold. He was turned around a little, and there was such a dent on his face», Tatiana said. She added that her husband had been shot in the head and there were signs of torture on his body.

Another Bucha resident, Oleksandr, said that on the first day of the Russian occupation, February 27, people were hiding from the Russians in the hallway of one of the houses.

«There were six men and three or four women. Of the six men, three were killed. On the first day, Eugene was shot, just like that. We don’t even know why. The second, Lenya, was shot in the morning. They looked at his documents and shot him in the back. The third was killed when they got drunk. They made him collect the phones. He collected them, brought them, and they shot him and threw a grenade», Oleksandr said.

According to the man, the occupiers also shot his brother when he was just going from the house to shelter. He added that the Russians systematically killed civilians and even boasted about it. Oleksandr added that people were simply killed on his street, while in other parts of Bucha, civilians were tortured, their hands were tied and they were shot.

One of the men, who survived the Russian occupation, said that when the first column of occupiers arrived at their residential complex, they demolished the gate, drove in with tanks and began to destroy everything.

«There are 600 apartments in our residential complex. All of them had been robbed. They took out everything that had at least some value. Refrigerators, microwave ovens, telephones, laptops, even washing machines», said a resident of Bucha. He added that the occupiers lived in people’s apartments and set up their headquarters in one of the premises.

Another resident of Bucha said that the occupiers simply shot the man. While the victim was being buried behind garages, bullets from the occupiers flew over people’s heads.

Well-known volunteer Yuri Biryukov wrote about another case of brutal torture by the Russian military on Facebook.

He also published a photo of one of the tortured Ukrainians:

The body of a man with a severed nose was also found in the yard of the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Bucha. «Locals said they saw him being led into the building with his hands tied. He did not leave the building», the journalists of the Babel report.

In addition, several children killed by the Russian occupiers in Bucha and Irpin, Kyiv region, had their hands tied, which may indicate torture. Traces of rape were found in girls under 10, according to Babel editor-in- chief Yevhen Spirin. «Some of the murdered children have their hands tied. Children. The children were tied. Shot dogs. Killed women. Girls under 10 with torn vaginas. Irpin, Bucha, Dmytrivka. How to live with it and is it worth living at all. How to explain it to yourself? How?», the journalist wrote on Facebook.

There are more and more crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine against sexual freedom and inviolability – we are talking about rape.

The facts of rape by the occupiers mostly become known after the liberation of the occupied Ukrainian territories, although most of the raped prefer not to tell law enforcement officers about it. Therefore, the real number of sexual crimes against Ukrainian women, girls and children is not known for sure.

According to Ukrainian Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova, in Bucha alone, 25 complaints were received from girls and women about rape by the Russian military. «There are 25 of them in total, aged 14 to 24», she told to the BBC Ukraine.

«I urge women and girls to report cases of sexual violence committed by the Russian military, no matter how hard it may be, because this is the only way to bring criminals to justice», the Commissioner for Human Rights emphasized.

As of April 5, the NGO La Strada hotline, where victims of sexual violence can anonymously contact, received seven reports of rape. One is from Kherson region, the rest is from Kyiv region. «Some victims are not even ready to talk

about it to law enforcement officers», Maryna Lehenka, a lawyer and vice president of La Strada-Ukraine, told reporters.

«The atrocities of the Russian military are impossible to understand», says Larysa Denisenko, a board member of the «YurFem» Association of Women Lawyers, which helps women who have suffered from sexual violence.

«This is rape in the presence of children or rape of minors in the presence of parents. This is rape in the basements in front of all those present, who are being held at gunpoint», the human rights activist notes. Very often, according to her, rapes are accompanied by both murders and harm to the victims: broken teeth, shaved hair, broken limbs.

So it is already known about two sisters raped in Kyiv region,15 and 16 years old. After that, other girls in the village began to cut their hair again, «to be less attractive», as Kremlin troops dragged the women by their hair out of basements to abuse them.

In the Brovarsky district, a Russian occupier broke into the house, shot the owner, killed the dog, and then raped his 33-year-old wife three times, threatening her and her 4-year-old child with weapons. «I shot your husband because he is a Nazi», a 20-year-old Russian soldier said, pointing a gun to her head.

Also resonant was the story from Mariupol, where the Russian military raped a woman in front of her 6-year-old son. The woman died from her injuries, the child turned gray – a strand of gray hair appeared on his head after received trauma.

Representatives of Human Rights Watch recorded evidence of repeated rape of a 31-year-old woman in Kharkiv region. During the crime, a Russian villain cut the woman’s neck and cheek with a knife and cut off locks of her hair. According to the organization’s report, the Russian threatened to kill Olga’s child if she refused to do what he said. The soldier put a knife to the woman’s throat and cut the skin on her neck, cut her cheek with a knife and cut off some of her hair. He hit her in the face with a book and slapped her several times.

In Kherson region, Russian invaders raped a pregnant 16-year-old girl and a 78-year-old grandmother. «Restoring peaceful life in the liberated villages of Kherson region, which we are currently working on, we are increasingly confronted with terrible stories. Such, for example, as the rape of a 16-year- old pregnant girl and a 78-year-old grandmother in one of the villages in the Ingulets direction. This is why there will never be forgiveness», said Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih Military Administration.

And there are many such stories in all regions where the occupying forces of the Russian Federation are located. And not all of these cases become the property of the media.

Mass killings in Kyiv region are not accidental. The genocide of Ukrainians is a purposeful policy of the Kremlin

The scale and nature of Russian crimes against civilians in the occupied territories show a clear and purposeful plan of the Russian authorities to physically exterminate the Ukrainian population, at least the most active and patriotic part of it, in order to spare the Ukrainians the will to resist and abandon the struggle for their own independence and national identity.

It can be stated that Russia’s actions in Ukraine against civilians fall under the category of «genocide».

According to current international law, genocide is defined as the deliberate action with the aim of total or partial destruction, groups of peoples or nations based on national, ethnic, racial, selfish or religious motives. Such actions include: killing members of this group; inflicting grievous bodily or mental harm on members of such a group; creation of conditions for the members of the group, which are designed for its complete or partial destruction; preventing the birth of children in the group; forcible transfer of children from this group to another group.

On February 19, Foreign Policy reported, citing US intelligence sources, that Russia had a list of celebrities and activists whom it planned to exterminate after the invasion of Ukraine.

On February 22, the United States told the United Nations that it had reliable information about Moscow’s lists of Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps after the military occupation. A letter from US Representative to the UN Bathsheba Nell Crocker to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that Moscow’s post-invasion plans would include torture, enforced disappearances and widespread human suffering. «We have reliable information indicating that Russian forces are compiling lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps after the military occupation», reads a document partially released by The Washington Post.

Yesterday, April 7, the German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that German intelligence (BND) had intercepted radio reports from the Russian military about the massacres in Bucha, which indicate that these crimes

were not accidental, but fit into the usual tactics or even strategy of the Russian Armed Forces.

The content of the radio reports correlates with the location of the bodies of killed civilians along the main street of Bucha. In one of them, a serviceman stated that he and his comrades had shot a man on a bicycle. In another conversation, the man, according to Der Spiegel, said that Ukrainian soldiers were first interrogated and then shot. In the intercepted materials, the Russian military exchanges information about atrocities as their daily routine.

According to Der Spiegel, the BND intercepted conversations show that the massacres in Bucha were neither accidental nor the actions of individual soldiers who lost control. It is much more likely that these materials indicate that the killing of civilians was part of the usual way the Russian military operates, and possibly part of their strategy to spread fear and terror among civilians and suppress resistance, German journalists say.

The actions of the Russian invaders proved that the information of foreign intelligence is true, and that the mass killings of Ukrainians were planned.

Thus, as of March 29, Russians abducted 11 mayors of Ukrainian cities and 8 municipal officials in the occupied territories. On April 3, the bodies of Olga Sukhenko, head of the Motyzhyn village council in Kyiv region, her husband, Oleksandr, and their son, Igor, were found. The Russian occupiers kidnapped them on March 23, when they captured the settlement.

The mayor of occupied Kherson said that Russian troops received a database of more than a hundred local activists – all of whom had been kidnapped.

«They (Russians – ed.) turned out to have personal files for each of my profile deputies, information conditionally from the wife’s ancestry to the nickname of the beloved dog. The same applies to the Territory Defense Forces and Kherson participants in the hostilities that took place in Donetsk and Luhansk, data on where they live and what they own. Currently in Kherson there are the Russian National Guard and the FSB which «are processing» activists, «working» for ATO fighters. I know that people are beaten, trying to break them psychologically», he said in an interview with UkrPravda.

Serhiy Khlan, a deputy of the Kherson Regional Council, noted that the Russian military will check Ukrainians at their checkpoints according to the list of names, which contains a list of people with an active pro- Ukrainian position, the military, journalists and volunteers.

According to Serhiy Danilov, deputy director of the Center for Middle East Studies, an analogue of the Donetsk torture chamber «Isolation» has started

operating in Kherson. «If people were kidnapped and pressed for almost a month, now they have started torturing them. In the last week, there have been reports of severe torture, of people who became disabled after coming out of the torture, and of strokes. In particular, such information leaked to the mayor of Oleshok about the members of Oleshky’s self-defense, who were almost all detained and many were tortured there», he said.

There are also known cases of abduction of local residents who went to pro-Ukrainian rallies in occupied cities. In particular, on April 3, during a rally in Kakhovka, the Russian military detained five locals and took them away in an unknown direction. The activist from Kakhovka said that the detainees were released within three days. According to the activist, the protesters were tortured.

Vladislav Kozlovsky, a local resident, told Vot Tak about the «filtration» methods of the Russian occupiers in Bucha.

«They put us on our knees and started «examine» us. I had money and a watch with me. Everything was taken away, as in others, that is, simply robbed. They knew someone, checked documents, and if a person took part in the anti-terrorist operation or was enlisted in the defense, they shot him immediately. They checked tattoos, looked for «Nazis». In fact, even those who had the official Emblem of Ukraine were shot», the man stressed.

According to him, the occupiers «shot either in the back of the head or in the heart». They executed eight men that day. Kozlovsky himself was interrogated about where ATO veterans or «nationalists» live. Then they beat him and gave him a gun-butt on the head. He also said that a few weeks after the occupation, the Kadyrovtsy entered the city, walking through residential areas and shooting everyone they saw, including the elderly.

In addition to the fact that Russian commanders are already openly ordering their subordinates to shoot at civilians in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s official mouthpiece, RIA News, directly called for the genocide of Ukrainians and justified the destruction of civilians disloyal to the Russian occupiers.

«Denazification is necessary when a significant part of the people, most likely the majority, has been mastered and drawn into its politics by the Nazi regime. That is, when the hypothesis «the people are good – the government is bad» does not work. Recognition of this fact is the basis of the policy of denazification, all its measures, and the fact itself is its subject» – wrote the author of the article, a well-known political scientist Tymofiy Sergeytsev in the article «What Russia should do with Ukraine».

According to this true Nazi manifesto of the Kremlin, «a large part of the people, who are passive Nazis, aiders of Nazism, are also to blame». «They supported and indulged the Nazi government. The just punishment of this part of the population is possible only as bearing the inevitable burden of a just war against the Nazi system», the article adds.

In light of Russia’s position, the arrival of numerous mobile crematoria in the convoy of Russian troops looks completely different. They were supposed to be used to dispose of the corpses of the occupying army, but given the absolute indifference of the command of the Russian troops to the fate of the bodies of their dead servicemen, it is quite possible that the crematoria arrived in Ukraine precisely to cover up Russian war crimes against activists, government officials and civilians.

«Soldiers entered Ukraine with a military band and columns of the Russian National Guard. But they were always followed by mobile crematoria. Why take crematoria if you do not believe in resistance? Now it is clear – to hide war crimes. This is not a performer’s mistake. This is a planned genocide», wrote Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

«I am convinced that the killing of civilians in Bucha is a war crime and will be recognized by the world as genocide», President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.

«We know thousands of people killed and tortured, with limbs cut off, women raped and children killed. I think this is the very genocide. The killings in Bucha prove that Russians’ hatred of Ukrainians surpasses anything Europe has seen since World War II. The only way to stop this is to help Ukraine expel the Russians as soon as possible», he said during a visit to Bucha on April 4.

A draft resolution «On the Genocide of the Ukrainian Nation by the Russian Federation» has already been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

«… taking into account the numerous testimonies of the crimes committed by the Russian Federation, its armed formations and repressive bodies in Bucha, Volnovakha, Irpin, Mariupol, Okhtyrka, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and many other places on the territory of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decides: 1. To recognize the criminal actions of the Russian Federation, which have been going on in Ukraine since February 24, 2022, as the genocide of the Ukrainian nation», the document reads.

However, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba stressed, the genocide of Ukrainians by the Russian Federation cannot

be stopped only by political and diplomatic measures. «The killings in Bucha prove that Russians’ hatred of Ukrainians surpasses anything Europe has seen since World War II. The only way to stop this is to help Ukraine expel the Russians as soon as possible», the minister stressed.

He noted that Ukraine’s partners know its needs. «Tanks, combat aircraft, heavy anti-aircraft weapons. Give them now», Dmytro Kuleba stressed.

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