The Associated Press published a video investigation of the Bucha occupation and the killing of civilians
- Author:
- Sofiia Telishevska
- Date:
Getty Images / «Babel'»
Foreign journalists together with OSINT investigators recreated a 3D model of the events that took place in Bucha in the first month of the Russian invasion.
The video investigation was published by the Associated Press agency in co-authorship with Frontline PBS and SITU Research.
The Russians entered Bucha on March 3 at noon. At that time, three checkpoints of Ukrainian volunteers and soldiers were set up in the town, they helped organize the evacuation. However, after the arrival of the first enemy tanks, some defenders moved to Irpin, and some of them remained. Later, the Russians detained them.
Journalists analyzed hundreds of hours of video recordings from video surveillance cameras and intercepted telephone conversations of the occupiers, where they talk about the killing of civilians.
Before the invasion, the Russians received "shooting lists" of people who should be eliminated first. Already on March 4, they started "hunting".
The Russian military checked the phones, interrogated and searched the civilians of Buchi. They sent suspected Ukrainians to "filtration", where people were severely tortured, beaten and then killed.
After the liberation of the city, the bodies of 450 tortured civilians were found there — most of them at 144 Yablunska Street, where there was a large shelter. Later, this place turned into a prison, where the occupiers killed 40 people. More than 10 victims were found in the "headquarters" that the Russians had set up in the residential complex above the shelter.
Journalists remind that the 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division of Russia was stationed in Buch. The military there were commanded by Major General Serhey Chubarykin and Colonel General Alexander Chaiko. The latter previously commanded the Russian troops in Syria.