The American media The New York Times published a new investigation into the murders of civilians in the town of Bucha near Kyiv. They identified those responsible for the intentional killing of civilians on Yablunska Street.
This is stated in the investigation of The New York Times.
Journalists of the publication spent several months in Bucha, communicating with locals and collecting photos and videos from the city during the occupation. They also received videos from video surveillance cameras and exclusive video recordings from the Ukrainian authorities. After that, they reconstructed how the Russians killed civilians on Yablunska Street in Bucha.
Although there were many Russian units in Bucha, and the total number of civilians killed exceeded 400 people, it was on Yablunska Street that the 234th Assault Regiment of the Russian Army became the main perpetrator of the crimes. This is confirmed by radio interception, as well as signs on military equipment. The regiment is based in the city of Pskov and is part of the 76th Airborne Assault Division. This regiment was commanded by lieutenant colonel Artem Gorodilov.
Residents of Bucha told journalists that the Russians were taking mobile phones from civilians. The journalists assumed that the Russian military could also take the phones of the civilians they executed, so they asked the Ukrainian authorities for a database of calls from the Bucha district during the occupation. They collected the phone numbers of the killed civilians and searched for them around the base. In this way, it was established that the Russian troops called their relatives and friends in Russia from the numbers of killed civilians. Thus, the journalists established the names of approximately 20 Russian paratroopers from the 234th regiment.
Also, for the first time, journalists identified the identities of the 30 dead on Yablunska Street. They were of different ages, genders and professions — from children to pensioners. All those killed were either civilians or prisoners of war — that is, the Russians committed war crimes. Videos from the scene confirm that the Russian military deliberately shot at civilians, and that they did not die from artillery fire or being in the line of fire between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
In addition, journalists do not consider the killing of civilians to be accidental. In their opinion, this was a purposeful campaign by the Russians to clear their way to Kyiv.
After the retreat of Russian troops from the Kyiv region, Lieutenant Colonel Gorodilov received the rank of colonel in April. This happened only a few days after the photos of the civilians killed in Bucha circulated around the world.