In the courtyard of the Saint-Michel church, the crowd sings the Ukrainian anthem as a final tribute to Maks Levine, a seasoned photographer and documentalist. Around the coffin crowd the family, the soldiers and the colleagues who rubbed shoulders with him. His body was found dead, riddled with bullets in a combat zone north of kyiv. “Maks was on a mission to tell the truth and in that sense he was serving God”, recalled the priest during the ceremony. In the early hours of the conflict, the war reporter told his friends that he expected many abuses from Russian troops. He wanted to be closer to the field.
→ THE FACTS. War in Ukraine, day 40: Russia accused of “genocide”, EU discusses new sanctions
“This violence will destroy them”
In the crowd, Bogdan Kutepov gave up his job as a kyiv police patrol for an hour. His colleagues have not ceased for three days to count the dead and to collect clues in the towns abandoned by the Russian soldiers. He himself went among the first to Boutcha, the scene of macabre scenes and possible mass massacres. “No, I didn’t think they could commit such atrocities, recognizes this former journalist well known to the Kievans. I pity the authors. This violence will destroy them, and will destroy their children with them. Russia is doomed. »
→ REPORTAGE. “Why did they kill my Tolik? “: in Ukraine, Russian abuses in broad daylight
Father Ivan Troiko also did not imagine that cruelty could “achieve such a scale”. This Orthodox priest of the Patriarchate of Moscow lives in Gorenko, a village near Boutcha. The roof of his house was pierced by a shell. Luckily, he and his seven children had left when the invasion began. “The streets that I have walked so often in the past are littered with corpseshe said. As a priest, I have to believe in the light that exists in each individual. And now I feel great pain because I see so much darkness in these people. » Since the invasion, he and his parishioners have decided to cut ties with Moscow. “Now the priority is to stop this evil, he continues. Indifference is now unacceptable. »
“It will be worse here”
How could Russian soldiers have come to this? Photographer Alexander Glyadyelov, 65, is not surprised. He covered the wars in Chechnya, he saw what the Russian army was capable of. “Here it will be worse, he warns. The Russians want to destroy the Ukrainian people. » A thesis widely shared here. On Ukrainian networks, an analysis by the Russian public news agency Ria Novosti has been on a loop for two days, which specifies the war aims by insisting on the need to lead Ukraine for its own good. “in order to denazify the masses”.
→ LANDMARKS. War in Ukraine: what are the differences between genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes?
Since the methodical destruction of Mariupol, the philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko has not ceased to alert Westerners to the crimes to come. Often he felt like he was talking in the air. This perfect French speaker has been studying for a long time what he calls “the Russian ideology of violence” : a campaign of dehumanization that has been going on for ten years. “Human life has no value there, including for their own soldiers. They don’t care about the losses, about the memory of their deceased. » The philosopher observes that the photos of the massacres stir up anger and hatred on the Ukrainian side. “You can’t judge my compatriots for that”he insists.
“Symbols of inhumanity”
Hate. For diplomat Dmytro Ostroushko, it was always about a feeling “shameful”. Today, he bluntly admits: “We are upset. Yes, we are filled with hatred against the Russians. How would you react if such massacres took place in Versailles? » Like the inhabitants of the capital, this Kievan used to flee the city and get some fresh air by the lakes and forests of Boutcha and Irpin. “Yesterday, I associated them with places of pleasure and relaxation, he observes. Today, they are symbols of massacres and rapes. Symbols of inhumanity. »
→ ANALYSIS. War in Ukraine: documenting crimes and finding those responsible to deliver justice
In Ukraine, there will be a before and after Boutcha. The abuses will permanently accentuate the divorce with the big neighbor. “Many people are now convinced that good Russians do not exist, insists artist and director Irina Mirsh. It was not Putin who killed children; it was not Putin who raped women; it was not Putin who tortured people; it was not Putin who dug graves for them; and it was not Putin who carried out criminal orders. These are ordinary Russian citizens. »
After Mariupol, the images of Boutcha should accelerate the exodus of civilians before the occupier. “Some of my friends refused to leave their apartmentpoursuit Dmytro Ostroushko. Today, they understand that there is a strong chance of dying in the occupied zone. » For three days, crowded trains have been leaving Kramatorsk, a city in Donbass in the east of the country still under Ukrainian control, in order to reach the western territories. Moscow has declared the region a priority objective. “After Boutcha, our soldiers will be even more determinedthinks Nikolai Malukha, a resident of Irpin who fled this martyred suburb in early March. Everyone now understands that we have to fight until the end. Until our victory. Any compromise with such criminals would only delay future abuses for a few years. »