Bucha Massacre By Russian Soldiers

Published on May 3, 2022

Russian occupants have been looting, killing, maiming, and torturing civilians, raping women, girls, and children, and destroying residential infrastructure since the first day of their full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory.

Information about large-scale mass atrocities by the Russian army shook Ukraine and the entire civilized world on April 3, when Russian fascists left the occupied Bucha in the Kyiv region. However, the corpses of civilians began to appear there as early as March 11, as evidenced by satellite images.

Gruesome Images Of Genocide

The world is still reeling from the gruesome photos and video footage from the liberated Bucha. The numerous crimes of Putin's Horde have silenced even the biggest supporters of Russian Peace.

But unfortunately, every day, more and more atrocities of Russian fascists become known.

A resident of Bucha, who survived the occupation, told how the occupiers mocked and then killed her husband.

"You don't see, we are Russians; we have St. George ribbons. We, liberators, have come to liberate you,"

the occupiers declared. Then they killed the man.

"They took his jacket off, took him outside, put him on his knees, and shot him in the head. And they interrogated where the patriots here are," the woman said, sobbing.

In Bucha, Russian occupants shot a civilian for no reason. The invaders did it with particular cynicism.

A Wife’s Story Of Atrocity

His wife Irina Vladimirovna Abramova told this story online.

She recounted the gruesome events of that day.

"On March 5, we were sitting at home, and we heard an explosion outside the house, then shooting at the windows and shouting, "Come out!" We came out, put our hands up, and said: don't shoot, we're civilians!" – recalls Irina.

She reported that a soldier asked her why they were hiding.

"Why are you hiding? We are Russians; we came to liberate you! You see, we have Russian ribbons," the occupant said.

Irina recalls that they then took her husband's shirt off, took him outside naked, put him on his knees, and shot him in the head. He lay in the street the whole time until the city was liberated. He was only 40 years old.

Several residents of Bucha formed a self-defense detachment, but the Russian Invaders killed them. The occupiers brutally tortured and killed people in Bucha. Six men were killed because they wanted to defend their hometown.

"The bodies of those killed appeared on the streets of Bucha when the occupiers entered there – satellite images".This was told by Yuri Biryukov, former advisor to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine.

More Eyewitness Accounts Of Atrocities In Bucha

Here are more eyewitness accounts of how the Russian army destroyed the residents of Bucha.

"I think it was March 2. I and about a hundred other people, including children, women, and old people, hid in a shelter near the Glass Factory. There was an anti-missile shelter with two airtight doors. When the Russian fascists entered the city, we were already sitting there. But they found us almost immediately. On the first day, they broke open the first door, and the next day they were already knocking on the second. We realized that they would get us anyway, so we decided to open up…".

The killings by Russian soldiers in the area had been recounted in local chat rooms and telegram channels since the early days of the occupation of Bucha and Gostomel. But these stories could not be told while thousands of civilians remained in the Russian army-controlled towns. In addition, the Russians blocked mobile communications.

Vladislav Kozlovsky, a resident of Bucha, shared his story with the author of Bucha Live, a Bucha telegram channel, and Belsat's independent TV channel "That's So" (created by Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian journalists). The following are quotes from his story published in the above two sources on April 3, 2022

"The first Russian soldiers who came into our hiding place didn't touch anyone. They gave us their rations and told us not to come out for two days. They promised us that after the cleanup, they would let us go.

But two days later, another unit came. They also told us to sit tight for a few days and not come out. While we were inside the hiding place, over 50 pieces of equipment and many servicemen had already gathered outside. There were Buryats, Belarusians, and Russians among the military.

Human Rights Violations

On the sixth day, they took us outside. The old men and women with children were released. They put 14 other guys and me on our knees and took our phones. They took our clothes off and started looking for tattoos with nationalist symbols (coats of arms, runes, and so on). They couldn't find any.

The guys who had the equipment pictures or some chats that they didn't like were killed right away. Someone was shot in the side and told, "so you don't hurry home.”

Survivors began to be beaten and asked, "Where is the territorial harrow? Where do the ATO members live?" They knew we had no information, but they kept hitting us anyway. It was evident that they just liked it. They were enjoying the process. After the beating, they put a submachine gun to my head and shot near my ear, then hit me on the head with the butt of the weapon. Eventually, they let us go. Six of the 15 guys survived. I couldn't believe I was alive.

Soon after that, we saw the first punitive detachments of Kadyrov. They were not human beings at all. They drove around and killed everyone they saw on the street for four days.

Regular Burials

We bury someone every day. We put the bodies in the tractor's bucket, and then when they weren't looking, we dug graves and carried them there. Among the people we buried were those with the backs of their heads shot, their cheeks cut out, and other signs of violence.

They killed our neighbor, a pensioner named shooter. He was just sitting on a bench and hadn't done anything wrong to anyone.

An acquaintance named Sergey Semenov, 40 years old, decided to walk with a friend through the glass factory to Irpen. Their bodies were found a few days later. Sergei had been shot in the back of the head. And the other one was tortured: they cut out his cheek and shot him in the heart. We buried them on the territory of the plant.

On March 2, in the battle for the city, five civilians were killed: three men, one of them a pensioner and a woman. Their bodies were lying on a bus for weeks; we were not allowed to take them out.

Two other men were shot by Chechen fighters when they started their car to go get water. They were buried only a few days later behind the garages, wrapped in blankets.

Recall that the entire Kyiv region, which was under temporary Russian occupation, was liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. When Ukrainian troops, journalists, and medics finally entered the cities liberated from the occupiers, what they saw stunned them: the occupiers had committed genocide on Ukrainian territory. The Russians had robbed and rioted people's homes, burned houses and cars, starved civilians, tortured, killed, and raped them. In Bucha, Kyiv region, the occupiers brutally murdered at least 300 civilians.