Horrific New Details of Carnage in Ukraine Town Emerge

This story contains graphic descriptions and images

Macabre new details have emerged about the Russian rampage through Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin’s forces are accused of indiscriminately killing civilians.

A survivor named Igor told The Insider one woman who was making food on the street was killed when she went inside as Russian soldiers walked by.

“They opened fire on her with an automatic rifle—they killed her right through the door,” Igor said. “I don’t know with whom they are fighting.”

Ukraine’s defense ministry tweeted horrific photos showing dead naked women, some of whom had been burned, along a road in Bucha, outside of Kyiv. Mass graves and corpses with gunshot wounds were also left behind.

Satellite images of Bucha show an approximately 45-foot-long trench dug around the grounds of the Church of St. Andrew and Pyervozvannoho All Saints, according to satellite imagery that Maxar Technologies, a space technology company, shared with The Daily Beast. The images were captured March 31.

The carnage was a backdrop to a Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s declaration that Moscow is bent on “genocide” and a Human Rights Watch report detailing alleged war crimes by Russian soldiers.

Despite the shocking images and global outcry, Russia continued to pound Ukraine this weekend. Thick black smoke was seen billowing over the once-picturesque port of Odessa on Sunday morning after Russian strikes obliterated a fuel depot in the city that had previously see little fighting since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. Both Russian and Ukrainian military confirmed the hit on their Telegram channels.

“This morning, high-precision sea and air-based missiles destroyed an oil refinery and three storage facilities for fuel and lubricants near the city of Odessa, from which fuel was supplied to the group of Ukrainian troops in the Mykolaiv direction,” the Russian military said in a statement on Telegram.

Odessa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov confirmed the hit and said no one had died. “Today the occupiers struck Odessa’s critical infrastructure objects with missiles,” he said on a televised statement that ran on Ukrainian media channels, according to CNN. “There’s fire, there’s smoke. Luckily, there are no casualties. Only buildings are damaged. The situation is under control.”

As Russian troops continue to retreat, regroup and restock, they have left a macabre trail in their wake. Ukraine’s defense ministry tweeted horrific photos showing dead naked women, some of whom had been burned, along a road outside of Kyiv where Russian troops had been stationed. Mass graves and corpses with gunshot wounds shot at point blank range were also left behind.

The war, now entering its second month, shows no sign ending soon, in part thanks to Ukraine’s fierce resistance, backed by Western donations of money, war machinery, and ammunition. On Sunday, the U.K. Defense ministry applauded Ukrainian efforts, saying they had greatly hindered Russian air capability. “Russia’s inability to find and destroy air defence systems has seriously hampered their efforts to gain broad control of the air, which in turn has significantly affected their ability to support the advance of their ground forces on a number of fronts,” they tweeted.

Still, no one has claimed responsibility for a strike on a fuel depot in Belogrod, on Russian territory, after Russian military blamed Ukraine for what would be the first cross-border offensive if confirmed.

On Sunday, Ukraine added to their gains, reclaiming the ghost town of Pripyat, which has been abandoned since the 1986 meltdown of Chernobyl nearby, which Russian troops claimed early on. “Today, April 3, units of paratroopers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine took control of the area of the city of Pripyat and the area along the State Border of Ukraine with the Republic of Belarus,” Ukrainian military said in a Facebook post that included a photo of the Ukrainian flag flying overhead.

—Shannon Vavra contributed reporting.