Mass graves, streets strewn with corpses and complete destruction: the unembellished side of the war is shown in the small Ukrainian town of Bucha near Kyiv. Lifeless bodies can be seen every few meters on a street in the commuter town of once home to 27,000 people. An all-terrain vehicle with Ukrainian soldiers constantly has to dodge, as videos show. The dramatic reports and recordings from areas near Kyiv that have since been recaptured by the Ukrainian army have caused international horror.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told British Times Radio that those killed were neither guerrilla fighters nor people who resisted the Russians. They were killed out of anger and pure bloodlust. He added: “Russia is worse than ISIS, period.”
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko speaks of genocide
EU Council President Charles Michel was “shocked” by pictures from the site on Sunday and spoke of “atrocities” and a “massacre”. Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused the Russian military of crimes and called for a relentless investigation. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) announced tougher sanctions against Russia and further aid for the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba spoke of a “deliberate massacre” and insisted on further sanctions. “The Russians want to destroy as many Ukrainians as possible,” he wrote on Twitter. The Russian armed forces left behind “a total catastrophe and numerous dangers,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Facebook. He warned of mined areas and further air raids. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko spoke of “genocide”.
280 people apparently had to be buried in mass graves
The Russian army had recently withdrawn in the region around Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian authorities, almost 300 bodies were then found in Bucha. Reporters from the AFP news agency reported that many of the dead wore civilian clothes. They saw at least 20 bodies lying on a single street in the commuter town. At least one of the dead had his hands tied.
“All these people were shot,” Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said. “You killed her with a shot in the back of the head.” There are cars on the streets in which “entire families have been killed: children, women, grandmothers, men”. According to the mayor, 280 people in Bucha had to be buried in mass graves because the three city cemeteries were still within reach of the Russian military.