But this Ukrainian victory was to be short-lived. This was followed by a monthly occupation of Bukha by Russian forces. In recent days, Moscow has claimed – without evidence – that the atrocities in Bucha were organized – calling it “fake” and part of a “planned media campaign”. But eyewitnesses who spoke to CNN said the massacre in the city began weeks ago. And the disaster there bears resemblance to Russia’s game book in other cities and towns in Ukraine, where officials say political infrastructure has come under attack – with power outages, water cuts and damaged communications towers – making it more difficult for locals to resist Russian troops. But Ukraine has not surrendered. There have also been reports of looting, disappearances and evidence of indiscriminate killing of civilians since the start of the war.
Horror on the road
Bucha – once a magnet for young families because of affordable housing, green spaces and good schools – and other areas nearby, turned into a living nightmare in March as Russian troops invaded the area.
Residents there share difficult-to-verify stories of looted homes, absurd killings and failed escapes via Kiev’s Zhytomyr highway – now a graveyard of damaged tanks and burned cars.
In Bukha, roofed houses collapsed under the force of Russian artillery raids.
Residents say they had no choice but to turn the plants and their front yards into makeshift tombs, as the presence of Russian forces made it impossible to access the morgue or local cemetery.
Anna Bilus, 48, lived in Bucha for eight years before Russian troops arrived. She took refuge in her home with her husband and two sons, but around March 4, when the power went out and the pipes dried, it became clear they had to leave, she told CNN.
They decided that Bilous and her two sons would leave on foot, heading to the nearby suburb of Irpin on March 9, while her husband stayed behind to care for the family’s elderly neighbors.
The trio traveled to side streets to avoid Russian soldiers, but when they turned onto Yablunska Street, the family was surprised to find corpses scattered on the street – including a lifeless man who collapsed under a bicycle.
Bilous believes the man’s body remained there for almost a month, until he and about 20 other citizens were photographed for public viewing last weekend.
The mayor of Bucha has described their deaths as an execution.
Bilous’s account and satellite images taken on March 18, released by Maxar Technologies, show that the bodies remained on the road for weeks after the city was under Russian control – Russia held Bucha until March 31.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov continued to deny allegations of brutal killings of civilians in Bucha, saying the allegations were not only “baseless, but a well-organized tragic show” and “a forgery to try to disparage Rostov.” army.”
Execution reports
About a mile away, in a sanatorium on Vokzal’na Street on Monday, Ukrainian officials led reporters to a cold basement where the twisted and bloodied bodies of five men were in advanced decomposition.
Some of them were kneeling in this dimly lit area. Others, with their hands tied behind their backs, had been shot several times. Spheres of bullets scattered the ground.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, said it was a harsh demonstration of torture and executions by Russian soldiers. CNN can not independently verify its claim.
The men have been killed at some point in the past three weeks, officials say. Their bodies have not yet been identified, as no personal documents have been found.
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense denied that anyone was injured.
“Given that the troops left the city on March 30, where were the plans for four days? Their absence only confirms the fake.”
Officials say Russian forces slept in the sanatorium around the second week of March. Several fox holes, trenches and places for armored vehicles remain visible around the site. The rest of the Russian diets have been abandoned nearby.
The soldiers have affixed the letter “V” to the outside walls of the facility, a symbol used by Russia’s Eastern Military District and synonymous with the letter “Z” as an emblem for Russia’s “special military operation”.
The horrific scene turned out to be too much for Vladislav Minchenko, who vomited after volunteering to help remove the bodies from the basement on Monday.
“It’s not what we learned in school,” said Minchenko, 44, who worked as a painter before the war. Raising his hands, Minchenko told CNN that the death toll he had encountered since the start of the conflict was “hundreds – not tens – hundreds”.
Hasty burials in a mass grave
The bombings, the actual fire and the happy Russian soldiers made it very dangerous for those injured in the attack in Bucha to seek treatment at the local hospital in the city center, according to residents.
The local morgue in Bouha was left without space as the death toll rose in March. To deal with all the bodies, a tractor was introduced to dig a mass grave at the site of St. Andrew’s Church and Pervozvanno of All Saints, its abbot Andriy Galavin told CNN.
“There were too many dead and there was no way to bury them properly, because access to the cemetery was simply unrealistic because of the bombing,” Galvin said.
There was also a lack of resources, such as coffins, due to the explosion of the main bridge connecting Buha and Irpin at the beginning of the war, Galvin said.
As of this weekend, Kyiv regional police and residents believed the remains of at least 150 people had been buried in the grave, but the mayor of Bucha said the death toll could rise to 300. CNN could not independently verify them. claims .
Galavin returned to Bucha last week when the city was liberated. said the plan was to exhume the bodies, identify them through DNA analysis and hopefully offer some consolation to relatives who are still searching for missing loved ones.
The tip of the iceberg
The devastation in Bukha is just the tip of the iceberg, Ukrainian President Zelensky warned on Monday. “In many villages in the liberated areas of Kiev, Chernihiv and Sumy, the occupiers did things that the locals had not seen even during the Nazi occupation 80 years ago,” said President Zelensky. “The conquerors will definitely be responsible for this.” A horrific example of cruel indifference to human life was found in Motyzhyn, a village about 20 miles south of Bucha. The local mayor, Olga Sukenko, was found half-buried in a ditch with members of her family. Ukrainian officials said Saturday that he had been killed after being captured by Russian forces. And, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says 11 local mayors are being held by the Russians, something that CNN can not verify. “Unfortunately, so far we have not been able to contact or release other city mayors and we do not even know, we believe some of them have been killed,” she told CNN, promising to pay the perpetrators. for their crimes against Ukraine. “We will find them and kill them and punish all those who killed the mayors of our cities, our journalists, our priests, our activists.” As Ukrainian officials struggle to clear mines and traps left by retreating Russian troops, they fear civilian casualties could be much higher in Borodyanka, 14 miles west of Bucha. Oksana Kostychenko and her husband Oleksandr returned to their home in Borodyanka over the weekend after leaving the area on 27 February. They discovered that their house had been swept away and looted by Russian soldiers. The couple also found a dead man in the yard of his house. His hands were tied behind his back and his pants were pulled down. “Alcohol is everywhere. Empty bottles in the hallway, under things,” Oksana said. “They smoked a lot, put out cigarettes on the table … They stayed here as they wished.” Anna Bilous and her sons managed it from Bouha on March 10. But the fate of the dead man who was seen lying under a bicycle as they fled, still haunts her. “I feel like my sons and I could be in the same place as the man who died,” he said. “I feel the pain and grief of all these lost people.”
