The streets of Bucha, which were littered with rubble and destroyed Russian tanks just weeks ago, are clear once again after an incredible cleaning effort by Ukrainian locals.
Volunteers have been working tirelessly to clean up the town’s neighbourhoods, with images on Monday showing a place that is almost unrecognisable from the pictures that shocked the world earlier this month.
Atrocities carried out by Russian forces were uncovered after the town was liberated from its occupiers, resulting in international condemnation of Moscow’s actions.
Despite this, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a decree recognising all members of the brigade – believed to have carried out the war crimes in the town – for their ‘mass heroism’ in defending ‘state interests’.
Photographs from the suburban town near Kyiv showed workers shovelling gravel and sweeping the heavily-shelled roads which were turned into a war zone in the early days of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Gone are the burnt out wreckages of Russian military vehicles, much of the debris from destroyed Ukrainian homes, and the bodies of slain civilians that lined the streets after Kyiv’s forces re-took the town after Russia’s brutal month-long occupation. Now, the scenes of devastation have been replaced with signs of life returning.
In one image, two men in high-visibility jackets are shown working together to shovel debris into the bucket of an excavator. Another shows a team of locals working their way down the road, filling a skip with rubble.
Others are shown working next to a house – its roof caved in from shelling. It appears to be one of the few buildings on the street that remains at least partially in-tact. Piles of rubble, once the homes of Bucha’s locals, line both sides of Vokzal’na street – the site of many killings and much of the fighting in the commuter town.
Pictured: Vokzal’na street in Bucha, the site of heavy fighting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, looks unrecognisable from the photographs of the town that shocked the world when they were released in early April. The burnt-out wreckages of Russian military vehicles that lined the street have been moved by workers who have been cleaning up the town
APRIL 6: A Ukrainian serviceman stands amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv. The town was the scene of heavy fighting in the early days of the war, and while Ukrainian forces destroyed several Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles, the town was overrun and occupied by Russian for around a month
APRIL 18: Ukrainian forces returned to Bucha earlier this month after Moscow’s forces were fought back and retreated north in Belarus, reportedly to be redeployed elsewhere in Ukraine. Since then, workers have been striving to clean up the town
APRIL 4: Ukrainian soldiers examine destroyed Russian military vehicles following a battle in Bucha, close to Kyiv, Ukraine
APRIL 18: Workers in high-visibility jackets work next to a house next to a house – its roof caved in from shelling. It appears to be one of the few buildings on the street that remains at least partially in-tact. The rest have been reduced to rubble
APRIL 3: Soldiers walk amid destroyed Russian tanks and cars in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv
Graphic evidence of killings and torture in Bucha emerged earlier this month after Russian forces withdrew from the area, pulling back from Ukraine’s northern regions to refocus their military efforts in the east.
As Ukraine’s soldiers, journalists and locals who had fled moved back in to the town, the bodies of civilians – some with their hands tied – were found scattered in the streets. Ukrainian authorities also discovered a series of mass graves containing hundreds of corpses, with work still on-going to identify those who were killed.
Videos from Bucha as it was liberated showed locals in cars winding their way down the street to avoid bodies that littered their path. One video – captured by a drone as Russia’s forces moved into Bucha in early March – showed a tank gunning down a civilian as she tried to reach her home on her bicycle.
That woman was later identified as 52-year-old Iryna Filkina – an aspiring artist who posted beauty tutorials to her social media pages. She was identified after a photograph of her hand and bold red and pink nail varnish was shared widely on social media, as the atrocities in the town came to light.
A majority of people in Bucha died from gunshot wounds, Ukrainian police said last week, declaring that more than 500 bodies have been found so far. Hundreds were found in a mass grave behind the Church of St Andrew and All Saints in the town, with pictures last week showing bodies being lifted from the ground for identification.
The town is now at the centre of a war crimes investigation by the the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in the Hague, with Russia facing accusations of carrying out the atrocities.
Last week the ICC called the town a ‘crime scene’ as chief prosecutor Karim Khan QC visited the mass grave.
Bucha has become synonymous with scores of atrocities alleged to have been committed by Russian troops across Ukraine, including civilians with bound hands shot in the head.
A report published last week by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said evidence pointed to ‘a major war crime and a crime against humanity’ by Russia.
APRIL 18: Ukrainian workers use an excavator to pule rubble and other debris into the back of a truck
Pictured: The scenes in the Railway Station Street in the Kyiv satellite town of Bucha earlier this month, where evidence of war crimes has been uncovered
APRIL 18: Men walk past burnt military APCs in a field where destroyed vehicles are being brought, as the clean-up of the town continues
APRIL 4: A photo shows massive destruction in the area of conflict at the Bucha town after it was liberated from Russian army
The atrocities have led US President Joe Biden to accuse Vladimir Putin of genocide – a term some other Western leaders have hesitated to use.
Moscow denies targeting civilians, and has called accusations its forces executed civilians in Bucha while occupying the town a ‘monstrous forgery’ aimed at denigrating the Russian army.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, insisted at a news conference earlier this month that during the time that Bucha was under Russian control ‘not a single local person has suffered from any violent action’.
But the satellite imagery from commercial provider Maxar Technologies, first reported by The New York Times, proved the bodies had been there for weeks. Since then, hundreds more have been found, and eyewitness accounts have spoken of Russian soldiers carrying out brutal executions.
The clean-up of the town came as Putin on Monday bestowed an honorary title on a brigade widely thought to be responsible for war crimes and mass killings in the Ukrainian town.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence intelligence directorate (SBU) earlier this month identified the 64th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 35th All-Russian Army as the primary unit responsible for the horrific scenes.
The ‘butchers of Bucha’ left a trail of death and destruction in their wake, and Ukrainian authorities are still working with an international team of forensic experts to examine the bodies and gather evidence.
But a presidential decree signed on Monday by Putin has recognised all members of the brigade for their ‘mass heroism’ in defending ‘state interests’.
Ukrainian civilians and soldiers who lost their lives due to the Russian attacks are being buried in the cemetery in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 18, 2022. Hundreds of bodies were found in a mass grave in the town, and work has been on-going to identify those who have been found since the town was liberated from Russia’s soldiers
Andrii Holovine, priest of the church of St. Andrew Pervozvannoho All Saints, leads the funeral of three killed victims, at a cemetery in Bucha, on April 18, 2022
An aerial picture taken on April 18, 2022 shows coffins being buried during a funeral ceremony at a cemetery in Bucha
Family members grieve on the coffin of Ruslan Nechyporenko, 47, during his graveside funeral on April 18, 2022 in Bucha
‘For mass heroism, valour, tenacity and courage shown by the personnel of the brigade in combat operations to protect the Motherland and state interests, I decree the title ‘Guards’ upon the brigade,’ Putin’s letter read.
The honours were bestowed despite Ukrainian intelligence suggesting the brigade has already redeployed to eastern Ukraine to the front lines of the conflict.
The SBU suspects Russian leaders sent the brigade to the hottest spots in the hope they would be killed and therefore unable to testify in any future war crime tribunals.
Putin’s decree of honours for the brigade was made on the 54th day of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, which has forced 12 million people to flee their homes or country and sparked Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
In early April, the Ukrainian defence ministry said the unit occupied the town of Bucha, which lies just outside the capital Kyiv, and committed heinous crimes against the civilian population before withdrawing to Belarus.
The brigade’s commander is Lieutenant Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov, who has earned the nickname of the ‘Butcher of Bucha’ for the civilian massacre carried out by the men under his leadership.
The SBU has in recent weeks worked with cyber police and thousands of researchers to obtain the ranks and passports details of members of the brigade, in an attempt to bring them to justice.
But there are fears the men who committed the crimes will die on the frontlines before they can be arrested and brought to justice.
A report published on the Ukrainian MoD’s website earlier this month said the brigade is being sent to the ‘hottest spots’, likely around Kharkiv, Izyum and the Donbas, in the hope that they will be killed before they are forced to testify in a war crime tribunal.
Burnt and heavily damaged cars are seen in a field where destroyed vehicles are being brought, on April 18, 2022 in Bucha
Galyna Bondar, mourns next to the grave of her son Oleksandr, 32, after burying him at the cemetery in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday, April 16, 2022
Nadiya Trubchaninova, 70, cries next to the body of her son Vadym, 48, who was killed by a Russian Army gunshot last March 30, during his funeral in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday, April 16, 2022
Putin’s decree of honours for the brigade was made on the 54th day of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, which has forced 12 million people to flee their homes or country and sparked Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II
Chief prosecutor Karim Khan QC, the first Briton to lead the International Criminal Court (pictured centre on April 13 visiting a mass grave in Bucha) in the Hague, has said there are ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe war crimes had been committed by Russian troops, who are accused of the mass slaughter and rape of hundreds of civilians
‘Another goal of the rapid return of the 64th Brigade to Ukrainian territory is the quick ‘disposal’ of unnecessary witnesses,’ the report read.
‘That is, redeployment to a part of the war front where they will have no chance of surviving, thus making it impossible for them to testify in future courts.’
The honouring of the butchers of Bucha came just one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for US President Joe Biden to visit his country and declared Ukrainian authorities have ‘substantial evidence’ that Russia’s troops are committing genocide in Ukraine.
Zelensky was asked by CNN State of the Union host Jake Tapper about whether there are ‘any plans’ for Biden to come see the situation for himself.
‘I think he will,’ the Ukrainian president answered.
He quickly added: ‘It’s his decision of course, and about the safety situation.’
‘But I think he’s the leader of the United States, and that’s why he should come here to see.’
Late last week Biden confirmed that his administration was discussing a possible Kyiv trip by a senior official and was ‘making that decision now.’ He told reporters that he wanted to go himself.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki backtracked on the president’s comment just hours later during a taping of the Pod Save America Podcast.
Zelensky said he understood there are concerns about the ‘safety situation’ but claimed the president of the United States should see the conflict firsthand
Dead bodies litter the streets near Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, after Russian forces withdrew from the region – leaving evidence of ‘war crimes’ in their wake
Psaki said it’s true Biden was ‘ready to go.’ But, she added, ‘we are not sending the president to Ukraine’ — a policy line that senior administration officials have held consistently through Russia’s war.
It comes after a slew of NATO leaders descended upon Kyiv in recent weeks, some even seeing the horrors found in the capital’s suburbs after Kremlin troops’ retreat firsthand.
Multiple American leaders, including Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, accused Putin and his soldiers of ‘genocide.’ British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it ‘doesn’t look far short’ of the heinous crime.
‘I have the same opinion as President Biden, and I immediately saw what was happening here. Especially what happened in Bucha and in the east of our country,’ Zelensky said in his Sunday interview.
‘I speak about this because Russia calls it a military operation, and not a war. But look what happened in Bucha. It’s clear that is not even a war — it’s a genocide.’