The Mayor of Bucha said more than 280 people had been buried in mass graves. Some had been found with their hands tied behind their back.

ByDanielle Sheridan, POLITICAL AND DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT, IN LVIV. 3 April 2022 •

Ukraine has compared Russian atrocities to Srebrenica after mass graves were discovered in villages in the wake of the withdrawal of enemy troops.

The Ukraine Defence Ministry posted on Twitter footage of recently liberated Bucha, a north western suburb outside Kyiv region, with the words “new Srebrenica”, in reference to the massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnia Muslims during the 1990s war in Bosnia. 

“The Ukrainian city of Bucha was in the hands of Russian animals for several weeks,” it said. “Local civilians were being executed arbitrarily, some with hands tied behind their backs, their bodies scattered in the streets of the city.” 

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitaliy Klychko, described what has happened in Bucha and other suburbs of the capital as “genocide”.

Bucha was under siege for nearly a month after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Its battles helped prevent Russian troops from taking Kyiv. 

It is only now that Ukrainian forces have retaken Bucha that the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers during this month have been uncovered.

According to AFP, reporters in Bucha said they witnessed at least 20 bodies wearing civilian clothing across just one street in the town, including one man with his hands tied behind his back.

Images shared by Ukraine’s defence ministry showed bodies strewn on the streets of Bucha. Many of them also had their hands tied behind their backs. 

The ministry wrote: “Local civilians were being executed arbitrarily, some with hands tied behind their backs, their bodies scattered in the streets of the city.” 

Anatoly Fedoruk, the Mayor of Bucha, said 280 people had been buried in mass graves in the town and that the bodies of “entire families… children, women, grandmothers, men” remained in their vehicles, which had been shot by the enemy. 

He said many of the dead had white bandages on, a sign that they were unarmed. 

Mr Fedoruk warned that it was not possible to tell how many civilians had been killed during fighting with Russian forces. “These are the consequences of Russian occupation,” he said. 

On Saturday, Volodymyr Zelenksy, the Ukraine President, warned that retreating Russian troops were creating a “catastrophic” situation by leaving mines around the bodies of those killed, as well as abandoned equipment and homes.

Mr Zelensky also accused western allies of failing to provide enough weapons following the revelations from Bucha. 

He said: “Unfortunately, Ukraine has not yet received enough modern Western anti-missile systems or aircraft. Hasn’t received what the partners could provide. Could – and still can.” 

“Every Russian missile and every bomb dropped only adds black paint to the history that will describe everyone on whom the decision depended. The decision is to whether to help Ukraine with modern weapons.”

Meanwhile Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, has voiced support for an inquiry into potential war crimes. She said she was appalled by the “abhorrent” atrocities targeting civilians in Bucha and that the UK was looking to collect evidence for a war crimes investigation. 

According to the latest update from the Ukrainian military, they have discovered that “systematic violations of the requirements of International Humanitarian Law on the conduct of war are ongoing. 

“The Russian troops continue to deploy weapons and military equipment in the immediate vicinity of the housing infrastructure of settlements, carry out filtration measures in temporarily occupied territories, commit violence against local residents, engage in looting and plundering.”

Russians continue to withdraw from some areas and are refocusing their efforts in Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea. Ukraine says Russia is appealing to its civilians to join the armed forces, to help replace their lost troops.

Mykailo Podoliak, one of Mr Zelensky’s top aides, has described it as a “rapid withdrawal” from the Kyiv and Cherniguiv regions.

In Bucha, bodies lay randomly around the town, outside a railway station, and by the side of a road, AFP reported.

“But the violence that came to this one street appears to be more systematic. The victims, all of whom appeared to be men, are scattered over several hundred metres of debris-strewn tarmac,” it reported.

AFP said that all of these individuals were wearing civilian clothes, such as winter coats, jackets, tracksuit tops, jeans or jogging bottoms, and trainers or boots.

Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at Rusi, said it was wrong to suggest that Bucha had been the “result of brutalisation or rogue behaviour”, and in fact it was “consistent with Russian methods in Chechnya”.

He said: “This was the plan. It was pre-meditated.” 

Mr Watling warned that “if the Russian military had been more successful there would have been many more towns like it”. 

He also claimed that calling for a specific response to Bucha was “taking an atrocity out of its context”. 

“The response should be to ensure that Ukrainians can defeat the invasion through steady and systemic assistance. The volume and speed of kit delivered matters,” he said.