The pictures below depict documentary violence.
“They shot my son. I was next to him. It would be better if it was me. ”
As the Russian advance on Kyiv stopped, a campaign of terror and revenge was launched against civilians near Bukha, say survivors and investigators.
Russian soldiers settled in this school. A sniper in an apartment building shot anyone who was moving. Other soldiers tortured, raped and executed civilians in basements or courtyards.
We visited Bukha, recorded dozens of civilian killings, interviewed many witnesses, and watched local investigators uncover the scale of Russian atrocities.
BUCHA, Ukraine – A mother killed by a sniper while walking with her family to fetch a teapot. A woman held as a sex slave, naked in addition to a fur coat and locked in a potato cellar before being executed. Two sisters dead in their home, their bodies lying on the floor for weeks.
Bucha is a landscape of horror.
Since the first day of the war, on February 24, civilians have borne the brunt of the Russian attack on Bucha, a few miles west of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Russian special forces on foot through the forest shot at cars on the road and a column of armor shot and killed a woman in her garden as they drove to the suburb.
But these first hardships faded compared to what followed.
As the Russian advance on Kyiv was delayed in the face of fierce resistance, civilians said, Bukha’s hostile occupation slipped into a campaign of terror and revenge. When a defeated and discouraged Russian army finally retreated, it left behind a bleak picture: the bodies of dead civilians scattered in the streets, basements or courtyards, many with gunshot wounds to the head, some with their hands tied behind their backs.
New York Times journalists and photographers spent more than a week with city officials, medical examiners and dozens of witnesses in Bucha, revealing new details about atrocities such as executions against civilians. The Times recorded the bodies of nearly three dozen people where they were killed – in their homes, in the woods, set on fire in an empty parking lot – and learned the story behind many of their deaths. The Times also saw more than 100 bags of corpses in a communal grave and in the city cemetery.
Evidence shows that the Russians killed recklessly and sometimes sadistically, partly for revenge.
Five men in an underground summer camp Six dead in a nursing home 16 miles from the center of Kiev Mother shot next to daughter A family of four among six victims A rape victim was found in the cellar Man who went out for bread About 25 miles from Makariv Three citizens in the backyard Four corpses on the street Man and woman in a concrete pit Mother shot next to daughter Five men in an underground summer camp Six dead in a nursing home A family of four among six victims Victim of rape found in the cellar Four corpses on the street Man who went out for bread Three citizens in the backyard Man and woman in a concrete pit Five men in one camp basement Six dead in one home for the elderly 16 miles to in the center of Kiev The mother was then shot to the daughter Victim of rape found in the cellar Three citizens in the backyard About 25 miles from Makariv Man who went out for bread A family of four among six victims Two brothers were found on the brush Four corpses inside the road Man and woman in a concrete pit Five men in an underground summer camp Six dead in one home for the elderly 16 miles from the center of Kiev Mother shot next to daughter A family of four among six victims A rape victim was found in the cellar About 25 miles from Makariv Three citizens in the backyard Man who went out for bread Two brothers were found in a brush Four corpses on the street Man and woman in a concrete pit Note: The locations are approximate. By Marco Hernandez
Unsuspecting citizens were killed doing the simplest daily activities. A retired teacher known as Aunt Liuda, abbreviated Lyudmyla, was shot at noon on March 5 as she opened her front door to a small side street. Her body was twisted, half in the door, more than a month later.
Aunt Liuda was shot outside her front door.
Nina’s younger sister, who was mentally disabled and lived with her, was dead on the kitchen floor. It was not clear how he died.
“They took the ground and fired to prevent anyone from approaching,” said a neighbor, Serhiy. “Why would you kill a grandmother?”
Nina was found dead on the kitchen floor.
Roman Havryliuk, 43, a welder, and his brother Serhiy Dukhli, 46, sent the rest of their family from Bucha as the violence escalated, but they both insisted on staying behind. They were found dead in their yard. “My uncle stayed for the dog and my father for the house,” said Havryliuk’s son Nazar. An unknown man was also found dead nearby, and the two dogs in the family were full of bullets.
“They could not defeat our army, so they killed ordinary people,” said Nazar, 17.
Tetiana Petrovna reacts with horror to the garden where Roman Havryliuk, Serhiy Dukhli’s brother and an unknown victim were found.
Constant threat from snipers
Bucha was one of the most desirable suburbs of Kiev for travelers. Nestled between a spruce forest and a river, it had modern shopping malls and new apartment complexes, as well as old-fashioned summer cabins between gardens and trees. The Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov had a holiday home there.
Days after Russian troops entered the city, the Ukrainian army counterattacked, setting fire to tanks and armored vehicles in an attack on a Russian column. Up to 20 vehicles were burned in a huge fireball that ignited houses across the street. Some Russian soldiers fled, transporting their wounded into the forest.
The remnants of a damaged Russian military escort.
Russian reinforcements arrived several days later in an aggressive mood. They set up an apartment complex behind School No. 3, the main high school in Vokzalna, or Station Street, and placed a sniper in a high-rise building still under construction. They set up camp further south at a glass factory on the Bucha River.
Until then, Buha residents had been sheltered from Russian rocket and artillery raids, many of whom slept in basements and cellars, but some went out from time to time to fetch water or sneak peek at the damage. The bombing was sporadic and much of the Russian artillery fire targeted Irpin, the next town.
After the attack on the column, the atmosphere hardened. On March 4, Volodymyr Feoktistov, 50, started walking around 5pm to pick up a loaf of bread from neighbors baking at home. His mother and brother had told him not to go out, but he insisted, his mother later recalled.
Russian vehicles were moving along a road at the end of their road and neighbors heard two gunshots. He was found dead on the street the next day. It took days for them to load him into a wheelchair and push him into the hospital morgue before rushing home.
On March 5, a Russian sniper opened fire on anything moving south of the high school.
The body of a man on the road between Bucha and Irpin.
A man with a shot to the head near his bike just outside Bucha.
The body of a civilian in the yard of a ruined house on Yablunska Street.
Yablunska Street became the deadliest section of the road for passing civilians.
Aunt Liuda was shot in the morning. That afternoon, a father and his son walked out of their gate to take a walk along their street, Yablunska, or Flower Street. “They shot my son,” said his father, Ivan. “I was by his side. It would be better if it was me. ”
He requested that only his first name be published. Many Buha residents were frightened after weeks of Russian occupation and asked not to be named, fearing retaliation at a later stage.
“He suffered all night and died at 8:20 a.m.,” Ivan said of his son. The family buried him in the front garden under a huge mound of soil. “It is very difficult to bury your child,” Ivan said. “I would not wish that on my worst enemy.”
His son left behind an 8-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter. “I can not look my grandson in the eye,” said Ivan.
Yablunska Street, where …
