In a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood of the Ukrainian city of Bucha, an apartment complex on Vodoprovidna Street has beautifully decorated sidewalks. Number 34a Vodoprovidna is one of the many modern apartment buildings that turn into a kindergarten. The residents are largely middle-class: Vasyl Nedashkivskiy, who installed PVC windows, lived on the fifth floor with his wife, Tetyana, and their dog, Nika. Another resident is a child psychologist and a third, Oleksii Tarasevich, a nanotechnology engineer. Russian soldiers arrived at the address shortly after noon on March 5, according to Tarasevich, who was keeping a diary and a video and photo archive of what he saw from his apartment window. He shared the images and footage with Reuters, which verified they were taken during the period. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register One month later, 47-year-old Nedashkivskiy and another local were found dead – their mutilated bodies were found on a staircase in the basement of a building in the complex – and many of the group’s residents had fled. In a residential parking lot, a Renault Captur SUV and an Audi saloon were overturned. Testimonies from at least a dozen residents of the complex depict a picture of violence and intimidation by soldiers while they were in the neighborhood. Nedaszkowski was badly beaten while unarmed, according to his wife and Tarasevic. Nedashkivskiy’s wife, Tetyana, told Reuters that Russian soldiers found an automatic rifle hidden in their apartment after he was beaten in mid-March. She said a soldier told her that Russian troops had taken her husband to an unknown location for questioning. Two weeks later, after the withdrawal of Russian troops, neighbors found Nedashkivskiy’s dead body, Tetyana said. A photo of Nedashkivskiy’s body examined by Reuters showed that his face and hands had been crushed by what appeared to be a blunt instrument. The second man was found dead on April 1 at the same spot where Nedashkivskiy’s body was found, according to Tetyana. The marks on the body of the second man, which Reuters saw two days later, showed that he had been hit and shot in the mouth at close range. read more Testimonies and a video gathered by Reuters also show that Russian soldiers were concerned that, although there was no visible Ukrainian military presence in Bucha since early March, they could be targeted by drones or fighters hiding among the residents. The video shows soldiers in full combat gear armed with guns, and Tarasevic said they took blankets from the apartments to camouflage their vehicles and appeared frightened and taken prisoner. The testimonies also reveal acts of contempt by residents who were intolerant of the invaders who occupied their city and their apartment complex. The Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry have not responded to detailed requests for comment on the deaths of the two men, the events in the apartment complex depicted by the residents and the Ukrainian allegations of Russian killing of civilians in Bucha. Russia has denied that it deliberately targeted civilians following its February 24 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has launched what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, aimed at demilitarizing and “demilitarizing” Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say the invasion was illegal and unjustified. Ever since Russian troops withdrew from Bukha last week, Ukrainian officials have said hundreds of civilians have been found dead. The mayor of Bukha said dozens were the victims of extrajudicial killings by Russian troops. Reuters could not independently verify this information. Reuters saw the remains of five victims in Bouha who were shot in the head. One had his hands tied behind his back. Another tied his legs. Reuters could not independently determine who was responsible. read more Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news conference on Wednesday that the images, which were supposed to show dead civilians in Bukha, were false and were published to justify further Western sanctions against Moscow and to ” , peace. conversations “. THE RUSSIANS UNDERTAKE Bucha is located about 30 kilometers northwest of the center of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Tarasevich said that before the Russian troops arrived in the city, he and Vasyl Nedashkivskiy had helped members of the Ukrainian Civil Defense Forces, consisting of civilian volunteers, build roadblocks near the satellite city of Irpin in Kiev. Tarasevic said he was not a member of the Territorial Defense Forces. Neither was Nedaszkowski, according to his wife. Territorial defense officers in Bouha referred questions to the deputy mayor, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Local numbers for the defense forces also remained unanswered. Russian troops began arriving in Bucha on February 27, locals said, a week before arriving at the compound on Vodoprovidna Street. There, they ordered three apartments in one of the buildings, which they used as a command post, and also used a basement, Tarasevic said. Soldiers parked armored personnel carriers and military trucks in the courtyard of the apartment complex, according to images taken by Tarasevic. About 3,700 civilians remained in Butsa after the Russians arrived, the city’s mayor said, or about a tenth of the city’s population. Soldiers ordered residents to wear white belts around their arms to identify them as civilians, eight residents told Reuters. The soldiers imposed a curfew every night, according to Tarasevich and Tetyana. Soldiers searched apartments, leaving handwritten signs on the door that read in Russian: “Inspected,” Tarasevic said. When they encountered empty apartments, they sometimes took content, he added. A photo shared with Reuters shows an armored truck parked outside with what appeared to be citizen sports bags stuck to the roof. The military also ordered locals to hand over their mobile phones, at least 20 Bhutanese residents told Reuters. Tarasevic said he gave the soldiers an old, broken telephone. His real phone was hidden under his elderly mother, with whom he lives. She said she told the soldiers she was too weak to get up, so they did not search her bed. Tarasevich said he hid ammunition in his apartment from a damaged Russian military vehicle on February 27 after being attacked by Ukrainian troops. He said he planned to hand them over to Ukrainian forces, but failed to do so before the Russians arrived. A BODY ON THE STAIRS On the night of March 17, Vasyl Nedashkivskiy arrived at the entrance of his building a few minutes after the curfew at 5 pm, according to his wife and Tarasevich, whose apartment is on the same plot as the couple. They said Nedashkivskiy was not wearing the white belt demanded by Russian soldiers. They both told Reuters that they heard loud noises from the ground floor. A soldier came to Tarasevic’s apartment and, pointing to his weapon, ordered him to go down, according to Taraσεevi.. Tarasevich said he saw Nedashkivskiy motionless on the ground in a pool of blood, with at least three soldiers standing above him. Nedashkivskiy’s face was bloodied and many teeth were lying on the ground. A soldier ordered Tarasevic to pick up Nedaskowski. When he protested, his soldier nailed his gun and threatened him verbally, according to Tarasevic, who presented his account in detail in a signed testimony examined by Reuters and said he gave it to the local prosecutor’s office. Neither the prosecutor’s office in Kyiv nor the local branch responded immediately to requests for comment. Tarasevich said he helped Nedashkivskiy on a bench next to the building. The soldiers then sent Tarasevic back to his apartment. About two hours later, according to Tarasevic, he heard a noise on the landing and through the spy on his door saw Nedashkivskiy, with some soldiers, entering the couple’s apartment. According to Nedashkivskiy’s wife, the soldiers then found the automatic weapon, which was hidden under a television. She said her husband acquired it when, before the Russian troops arrived, acquaintances serving in the Ukrainian territorial defense had gone there for safekeeping. The soldiers transported the couple to the headquarters, to building 33b, Tetiana said. There, a soldier hit her husband with the butt of his gun, she added. Tetiana said she was taken to a room, a children’s bedroom, where she fell asleep. When she woke up, her husband was gone. A soldier told her he had been taken to the unit headquarters for questioning, without specifying the location, according to Tetyana. Reuters, during a visit to the building on Thursday, noticed drops of dried blood on the floor and walls leading outside the headquarters where it said they had been taken down the stairs. After a four-day stay at the command post, Tetiana said her soldiers allowed her to return home. Her husband’s body was found about a week later, on April 1, on the stairs leading to the basement of the building that housed the headquarters. She said her husband had refused to submit to the will of the Russian soldiers. “Vasia did not wear the white arm,” he said, using an affectionate version of his first name. He said: “I am on Ukrainian soil. I’m a Ukrainian. “ Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Editing by Christian Lowe and Cassell Bryan-Low Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
