Investigations soon to be completed |
New numbers prove the horror of Bucha
The Bucha horror shocked the world and became a symbol of Putin’s bloody war against Ukraine: in the Kyiv suburb, Russian soldiers shot civilians, some indiscriminately, while others were tortured and shot in the head. Irina (48) had to watch as her husband had to kneel down in front of the Russian soldiers and was shot. Many bodies were simply left lying on the streets, others were buried, hidden in wells or sewers.
For months, investigators tried to capture and document the horror of the Bucha massacre. Now they’ve come to a final balance sheet—or at least come close to it.
458 bodies – 419 of them with signs of having been shot, tortured or beaten to death. 366 men, 86 women. Five people whose gender could no longer be identified. Nine children under the age of 18. Almost all were civilians.
About 50 bodies have not yet been identified or claimed by relatives, said Mykhailyna Skoryk-Shkarivska, deputy mayor of Bucha, according to the “ Washington Post,” on Monday. Nevertheless, the city officials decided to announce their investigation results – because: A final number and all identities would probably never be known.
In the last two weeks alone, two more bodies have been discovered in a forest and in a storm sewer. Other residents have only now reported their relatives as missing because they cannot be found.
A photo from April 2nd: corpses lying carelessly on the street in Bucha
With their hands tied behind their backs, the bodies were found in Bucha
Skoryk-Shkarivska announced that prosecutors are now investigating the details of each individual case of these 458 dead. The goal: identify the perpetrators and charge them with war crimes!
According to current investigations, 39 of the 458 dead died of natural causes.
But these cases are also being further investigated to see how the deaths of the people could be related to the Russian occupation. For example, the Washington Post reports on the case of an apparently healthy 34-year-old mother. She died of a heart attack while sheltering from Putin’s bombs in a basement with her three young children. For days the children were trapped next to their dead mother.
Also included in the number: a bag with body parts. The remains are too splintered, decomposed or badly mutilated to be identified. However, they apparently belonged to several people, according to Skoryk-Shkarivska. Only ashes are left of some corpses, which cannot even be identified by DNA analyses. The Russians might have burned them to cover up war crimes.
Dramatic: Most of the once 39,000 inhabitants of Butscha were able to flee before the Russian troops attacked the city. About 4,000 remained – more than one in ten of them died in just over a month.
Skoryk-Schkarivska announced that efforts to identify the victims would continue. The city is determined to give a name to each of the dead and to erect a memorial for them.
But: If there is no information about the unknown dead soon, the city wants to bury them soon – and thus pay them their last respects.