Photo: Rubryka
Bucha. Here, during the russian occupation, the ruscists shot civilians, both men and women. The morgue in the city was packed, and they couldn't bury people in the cemetery – the russian occupiers didn't cease the fire. Locals and utility workers decided to temporarily bury people behind the local church in a mass grave.
Ukrainian investigators and forensic experts have been exhuming bodies from the largest mass grave in Bucha for several days. According to preliminary estimates, about 100 people are buried here.
The Rubryka journalist visited the place of exhumation and recorded the consequences of the genocide by the russian federation.
People were buried in a trench dug near the church
Some people are buried with their hands and feet tied
On April 8, law enforcement officers began uncovering one of the first mass graves in Bucha.
The grave is a long ditch with people buried in black bags. To dig it up, first, an excavator removes the top layer of earth, then workers manually dig up the bodies one by one and hand them over for inspection.
The expert conducts a preliminary examination of the man's body
Over this time, investigators and forensic experts have examined 57 bodies. After the first on-site examination, they sent the bodies for a more detailed analysis, including a DNA test to identify the person.
Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the Bucha District Prosecutor's Office, estimates that 40 to 60 bodies are still in the grave. That is, the total number can reach hundreds of people.
Workers have been digging up people's bodies for five days
The prosecutor notes that almost all the bodies have gunshot or shrapnel wounds.
"We have previously established that these people died during the peaceful evacuation or were shot in the streets of Bucha," Kravchenko said.
He stressed that some bodies had their arms and legs tied, and some of the dead had broken bones in various parts of their bodies.
The occupiers shot the car with a woman and two children
The vast majority of the dead were civilians, including one police officer. The investigators also found children among the buried bodies.
The bodies are removed one by one, carefully removing the ground with shovels
The day before, police found the body of a woman and two children. They have already learned that this woman tried to evacuate the city with her children in the car. The ruscists shot the vehicle, and it caught fire; a woman and her children died in the car.
"During the occupation, russian troops shot people in the streets just because they were locals, Ukrainians, helping volunteers, and just supporting their country. It didn't matter to them whether they spoke Ukrainian or russian. russian troops just massacred civilians in Bucha. And they continue to kill people in other regions," Kravchenko said.
Prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko stated that law enforcement officers already had enough evidence for the international court
The prosecutor also added that they had enough evidence against the russian occupiers for the International Criminal Court.
"Ukrainian law enforcement officers will find everyone who committed these bloody crimes," Kravchenko said.
"A husband went to pick up a humanitarian aid for children; a sniper killed him"
Yulia came to the grave in Bucha because one of the dead buried there was her husband.
Yulia tells reporters about the death of her husband
When the war started, he sent Yulia and her children to safety, but he remained in the Kyiv region. Here he helped children who couldn't be evacuated.
On March 3, one of the volunteers took humanitarian aid to an orphanage in Vorzel. The occupiers shot his car halfway between Bucha and Vorzel, and he had to leave the vehicle.
The volunteer reached Yulia's husband, and he and a friend decided to get a car and bring humanitarian aid to the children.
"My husband and another guy decided to go and get this food and diapers because there were children under five years of age. They took this bus. The guy with him got behind the bus wheel, and my husband was driving behind in another car. On the way, they came across a sniper. The sniper shot the car and shot my husband in the backbone," Yulia said.
The injured man was taken to the maternity hospital, but no specialists in the maternity hospital could operate on him. They couldn't send the ambulance from the hospital for a long time because one of the cars had come under fire from the occupiers the day before.
Dozens of bodies remain in the mass grave
Only on March 8 they took the man to Bucha Hospital, but he died during the operation. Yulia was told that everyone who died in the hospital was buried in a mass grave near the church.
The police have already found 250 buried human bodies in Bucha. But the search for burial places and the exhumation of bodies are still in process.
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