Three separate mass graves have been found in Bucha as authorities there begin the grim task of trying to clean up the devastated town where Russian troops are accused of heinous war crimes, according to the mayor.
And while the Kremlin has put forward increasingly conspiratorial denials—calling the massacre a “well-rehearsed show” by Ukraine and its Western allies—German intelligence has reportedly intercepted radio chatter between Russian troops that blow Russia’s denials right out of the water.
Der Spiegel reports that German intelligence obtained communications between Russian soldiers in which, among other things, they admit to gunning down a civilian on a bicycle—a shocking murder that was captured in aerial footage recorded by Ukraine’s military while Russian forces controlled the town.
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In another conversation, a Russian commander reportedly orders his subordinate, “First question the soldiers, then shoot them!”
Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service reportedly presented audio of the communications to lawmakers on Wednesday. The communications are said to match the locations of bodies found in the town and suggest that similar executions of civilians are taking place in other Ukrainian cities, namely in areas surrounding besieged Mariupol. The killings are described as part of a “clear strategy” to terrify civilians into submission.
Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group are suspected of taking part in the indiscriminate massacre of civilians, according to Der Spiegel.
Chilling new details on the slaughter of civilians were also provided by Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk on Thursday.
In a new interview with Deutsche Welle, he reveals that at least 90 percent of the 320 civilians killed were found with gunshot wounds, and not shrapnel injuries—meaning they were not simply caught up in shelling.
“As of yesterday evening there were 320 civilians [found dead.] Right now specialists are working with the bodies, criminalists and law enforcement, but the number of bodies discovered is growing every day. Because they are being found in private residences, parks, squares—wherever there was a chance to bury the bodies in between shelling. People tried to bury the dead so the dogs wouldn’t tear them up. Now in the villages of our community we are finding new bodies every day in such temporary burial sites,” he said.
Fedoruk went on to say that while Russian forces controlled the town, he personally witnessed three instances of civilians being gunned down, as he was staying in a house located directly next to a Russian checkpoint.
“There were four people in one car—a man, a pregnant woman, and children, three of whom were shot. The woman’s husband buried her body in a trench that the Russian occupiers had dug to take cover. Instead of [erecting] a cross, he set up the license plate of the car in which they were traveling, and the bodies of the children were taken to the church and buried. Whether or not that man survived and what his fate is, I do not know,” Fedoruk said.
