Massacre in Bucha

International reaction

The massacre in Bucha was condemned by the heads of the European Parliament Robert Metsol, the European Council Charles Michel and the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Secretary of State USA Anthony Blinken, as well as many public figures, politicians, economists and journalists from different countries.

The United States and Britain will seek Russia's expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council following reports of killings of civilians in Bucha. "Russia's participation in the Human Rights Council is a farce," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on April 4.

On April 3, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that during the time Bucha was under the control of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, not a single local resident was injured from any violent actions, residents had the opportunity to evacuate in the “northern direction”, and Russian units left this city on March 30. It was also stated that the southern outskirts of the city were “round-the-clock shelled by Ukrainian troops”. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the footage from Bucha "a staged anti-Russian provocation."

In his video message after the tragedy in Bucha, President Zelensky addressed the Russian government with the words:

I want all the leaders of the Russian Federation to see how their orders are being carried out. Here are the orders, here is the execution. And joint responsibility. For these murders, for these tortures, for these arms torn off by explosions that lie on the streets. For shots in the back of the head to bound people. This is how the Russian state will now be perceived. This is your image. Your culture and human appearance perished along with the Ukrainians and Ukrainian women, to whom you came.

Russia

Russia and Ukraine demanded to convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the events in Bucha, which they describe in the opposite way. The scheduled meeting took place on 5 April.

Ukraine

The Ukrainian side assesses the situation as the killing of innocent civilians and a war crime, while noting that all the dead were in civilian clothes and without weapons. The Ukrainian government has stated that it is collecting evidence of all war crimes, which, among other things, will include evidence of the massacre in Bucha. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that the Buchan massacre was deliberate, the Russians are trying to destroy as many Ukrainians as possible. In particular, the minister demands an embargo on Russian oil, gas, and coal; closing all ports for Russian ships and products, disconnecting all Russian banks from SWIFT.

The exact number of those killed is unknown. Fedoruk said that at least 300 people were found dead immediately after the massacre, but in an interview with Reuters, Deputy Mayor Taras Shapravsky said that only 50 victims were confirmed as extrajudicial executions. The figure of 300 was later revised to 410, including the bodies found in Irpen and Gostomel. Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov compared the killings in Bucha with the Vukovar massacre.

Alleged participants in the killings

• 14th and 45th separate special forces brigades;
• 63rd Special Purpose Police Detachment of the Russian Guard;
• 155th Separate Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet;
• 74th separate rifle brigade of the Central Military District;
• 31st Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade;
• 141st Special Motorized Regiment Kadyrov.

Alleged participants in the killings

• 64th separate motorized rifle brigade of the 35th Army of the Eastern Military District;
• 5th separate tank brigade of the 36th Army of the Eastern Military District;
• 331st Airborne Regiment of the 98th Airborne Division;
• 137th Airborne Regiment of the 106th Airborne Division;
• 104th and 234th airborne assault regiments of the 76th airborne assault division;

Destroyed car in Bucha

On April 1, BBC correspondents found 13 bodies on a 200-meter road between the villages of Mriya and Milaya, Buchansky district, only 2 of them were in Ukrainian military uniforms. According to them, from the place where the Russian tank stood, there is a clear arc of shelling of the entire territory on which they lay. Correspondents were able to establish the identity of two people, they turned out to be a local married couple - Ksenia and Maxim Iovenko. Their execution was recorded by the drone of the Ukrainian self-defense.

Starting from April 2, many world publications reported that the Ukrainian military found on the territories of the Kiev region abandoned by Russian troops “bodies on the roads, evidence of the killing of civilians, similar to executions, mass graves and murdered children”. The mayor of the city Anatoly Fedoruk said that at least 280 civilians were buried in mass graves in Bucha, some of whom died from natural causes, “from hunger and cold” or “from mortar and artillery shelling”

On February 25, the first clashes between Ukrainian troops and Russian special forces took place in Bucha. From March 5 to March 31, Bucha was under the control of Russian troops, who created a rear base in the city for an attack on Irpin (a city for which fierce battles were fought throughout March) . After Ukrainian troops entered Bucha on April 1, the world's leading media began to publish photos and videos of the killings of civilians. After the departure of Russian troops, more than 30 bodies of people in civilian clothes were found on the streets of the city, in the basement of the children's camp and in the courtyards of houses.