The NYT releases evidence of 8 men's execution in Bucha
PHOTO: VADIM GHIRDA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The New York Times searched for evidence of eight men's execution by russian paratroopers at 144 Yablunska Street in Bucha.
The NYT reports.
Journalists identified all the executed men and the reasons why most of them were targeted.
These are (from the top row to the left) Anatolii Prykhodko, Andrii Matviichuk, Andrii Verbovyi, Denys Rudenko, Andrii Dvornikov, Sviatoslav Turovskyi, Valerii Kotenko and Vitalii Karpenko.
Surveillance footage in front of building 144 showed that russian paratroopers occupied Bucha at about the same time as a group of men were executed. They drove vehicles such as BMD-2, BMD-3, and BMD-4, which are used almost exclusively in the russian Airborne Forces.
The paratroopers patrolled the area, searching homes and working inside and outside a four-story office building at 144 Yablunska Street, which the russians turned into a base and field hospital.
Nearby, at 31 Yablunska Street, Ivan Skyba, a 43-year-old builder, and five others were on duty at an impromptu checkpoint when the russians returned.
As Skyba told the NYT, they had a grenade, bulletproof vests, and a rifle.
According to Skyba, being warned on the radio that the russians had returned to Bucha and were moving in their direction, they hid in a house near the checkpoint with the landlord, 53-year-old Valerii Kotenko, who brought tea and coffee to the militants.
They were later joined by two other fighters, Andrii Dvornikov and Denys Rudenko.
About an hour later, russian searchers found the men and drove all nine of them, including the landlord, out under gunpoint. Soldiers searched the men for tattoos that could indicate military affiliation and forced some of them to take off their winter jackets and shoes. Then they were taken to the base at 144 Yablunska Street.
Skyba and seven civilian witnesses, who were also gathered by russian forces from neighboring buildings and kept in a separate group, told NYT reporters what happened next.
Witnesses said they saw a group of prisoners in shirts pulled over their heads in the parking lot in front of the russian base. According to Skyba, russian soldiers forced them to their knees and then shot Vitalii Karpenko almost immediately.
It is noted that one person was released. According to the local military commander and investigators, he is currently under investigation; a government document reviewed by the NYT states that it is "treason."
Skyba said that he was shot, and he fell, the bullet hit him in the side.
The bodies of the men killed in the parking lot and inside the building were taken to the yard and lay there with six other victims for almost a month.
