Irina and Evgeni buried their neighbours. Undertaker Sergei found twenty corpses with their hands bound behind their backs.
 |
| [Map of Bucha city, Ukraine/Google] |
Bucharest's Bahnhofsstrasse, one of the city's principal thoroughfares, looks like a war-devastated battlefield. In a checkerboard layout, Russian tank wreckage lines a roadway at least 10 metres wide. The Russian army's onslaught on Bucha started at this exact moment. Since then, it's been little over a month and a half since that incident.
Now, there isn't even a single undamaged home remaining in this whole neighbourhood. Many structures have been damaged by bombardment or fire. As a result, the people, the vast majority of whom have already departed, have no plans to return. Because Butscha has been deemed a restricted zone, no one is permitted to enter without a special authorization, a return is not conceivable right now. Deadly risks such as fakes and mines exist.
But only a few hundred metres away, there are individuals who have lived in the city under Russian rule for the whole month.
Shot for smoking
47-year-old Outside, Irina and her 36-year-old neighbour Evgeni stand together. They are eagerly anticipating the arrival of volunteers with humanitarian assistance. Evgeni, in particular, seems to be in a state of emaciation and dehydration. Despite the fact that he isn't sobbing, his lips are cracked, his facial muscles flex, and tears trickle down his cheeks.
Since the beginning of April, Bucha, a tiny town near Kyiv, has been freed from the occupying forces. Before the war, there were around 35,000 inhabitants in this town. The survivors are still reeling from the trauma of the last month.
The Kadyrovtsy had arrived, says Irina. The Russian National Guard unit under the command of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov is known as the "Kadyrov Guards." "They put their tanks right next to our home and across the street," Irina says. Then they used machine guns nonstop and had snipers on standby. After that, they walked through each and every one of the residences in search of males. We hid in the basements to avoid them, but they came down every day to count us. We couldn't leave the house until they gave us permission to do so. Since a result, we were unable to prepare food for two or three days, as they banned us from venturing outdoors and cooking in the open air.
Then, she goes on, a group of young Russian troops appeared out of nowhere. The home is surrounded by three graves. According to Evgeni, "We buried the neighbours who murdered them there. He returns to demonstrate the location. There are three graves, two of which are practically adjacent to one other. Neighbors sought to create a crucifix with an orthodox icon on the new grave mounds. It's tough for Irina to explain what occurred, and while Evgeni sits there silently listening, tears well up in his eyes and his hands quiver.
In the early morning hours, it was around nine o'clock. In our apartment, my husband and I could hear people conversing. In order to smoke, our next-door neighbour, Lenja, emerged from the basement. He was questioned by a Russian about his identity and the reason for his visit. According to Lenja, he's a resident of this residence. His documents were requested by a soldier, and he replied that he'd fetch them from home. Irina breaks down in tears as she recalls the moment the Russian shot him in the head as he turned to go. "Lenja didn't even have the time to speak or comprehend anything," she continues.
The lady adds that the man's corpse remained beneath her window for an hour before it was discovered. Her husband arrived to lay a blanket over the deceased neighbour after the soldier had finally departed. "I could not get any closer. As Irina sobs, wiping away tears, "My husband said it looked horrific since there was nothing left of the head." Finally, he was laid to rest beside another neighbour. "They were a nice bunch. For some reason, I can't figure out what or why they were slain "Evgeni continues, his pale lips hardly moving.
Irina recounts how terrified she and her family were to leave the home after the tragedy. An anonymous Russian soldier warned them to remain inside because he had previously "killed a grandpa and grandma strolling down the street." The fact that anything like this is occurring in the 21st century is beyond my comprehension. You wouldn't want that on anybody. So many individuals were murdered instantly as a result of what they did. I'm not sure how they're going to make it after that."
Ukrainian forces and police uncovered the Russian occupants' headquarters after taking Bucha back. An ideal location was picked by the invaders, who had painted a "V" on the sign of the children's sanitarium. Trenches and pits for hiding cars were created in the surrounding park.
Dry food packages branded "Russian Army" may be found all throughout this park. Nearby, mosaics depicting Ukrainian youngsters with wreaths and yellow-blue ribbons in their hair still adorn the walls.
Surely, last summer, youngsters were able to enjoy themselves here. However, this spring was a bad time. There were five corpses uncovered in the sanatorium's basement. They claim they were shot in the back of the head or the heart and had their wrists tied behind their backs. They used a machine gun to sever the skull of one of the victims.
The men's identities remain a mystery to the Ukrainian police, who have now stepped in. They seemed to be civilians based on their attire; one was dressed in work clothes, while the other had a white armband. He may have been trying to show that he was a civilian. Photos of his daughter and grandchild were all that was discovered in his wallet. Decomposition and odours indicated that the bodies had been in the basement for at least two weeks, according to the police's estimate. At this location, it seems that they were also murdered. After the gunfire, the walls were covered with blood splatters.
Corpses with their hands tied
When it comes to rescuing the dead in Bucha, Sergei, a funeral director, says he's had to do it before. Nearly two-thirds of the dead had their wrists and wrists chained behind their backs. According to him, there are obvious indicators of torture and execution.
More than three hundred civilian dead, according to Sergei, have been found by the team so far. He puts the percentage of women and children at about 30%. "Under fire was, of course, the most difficult and scary part. The gravedigger recounts how they had to bury the victims in mass graves since they couldn't bury them individually. Additionally, he thinks that the locals of Bucha will never again let the Russian forces to return.
As he confesses, he still has a lot of challenges ahead. "We've already got a good idea of where to start looking. There will be a lot more corpses found."
People who saw war crimes in their city had no idea why they had to go through what they had to go through. Even more terrifying is the fact that there are many more locations like this throughout Ukraine, and that they continue to occur.
Zelensky meets Bucha residents
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Bucha to see firsthand the effects of Russian occupation. For the first time since the Russian invasion, he is leaving Kyiv, the capital city.
With the Russian military vehicles, Zelensky not only explores the streets, but he also visits a humanitarian assistance delivery centre to meet with locals. Retired people make up the majority of individuals who have lived in the city for such a long period. Probably none of them anticipated to encounter their country's president in person here in the United States of America.
“Thank you for sticking with us and not fleeing the country,” one of the elderly ladies remarked to President Volodimr. For his perseverance, Zelensky thanks him. And he says that the city's communications will be restored shortly, and that regular life will resume. However, the town of Butscha is now without power or gas, as well as functioning landline telephones.
"These are war crimes that are universally recognised as genocide," says Selenski in an interview with reporters. Thousands of people have been slain, and we are aware of this. In some cases, women were raped, children were killed, and others were tortured. On a Bucha neighbourhood lined with demolished homes and rusted-out tanks, the President struggled to find the appropriate words to describe what was happening.
Because of this, although recent shelling and gunfire in the Kyiv region have ceased, the conflict is far from ended. In the years to follow, generations of local inhabitants would be haunted by this month of Russian occupations.
There will be no closure for the hundreds of victims of this month's violence.
Source : TAZ