"Why do the Russians hate us"... testimonies of survivors of the "worst European massacre of this century"

In just a month, a small town on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, has transformed from a small, warm, fast-growing area into a symbol of horror.

Bucha, a small town northwest of Kyiv, was made up of apartment blocks surrounded by forests, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its subsequent withdrawal in March created scenes in the town that reflect Europe's worst massacre in the 21st century.

Residents of the town who survived documented the horror scenes they experienced in the town where people were left to die on the side of the road after being shot by Russian forces, and piles of charred corpses likely burned by the Russians.

A worker in Bucha named Serhi, who helped retrieve the bodies, describes what he saw to the local newspaper, "Kyiv Independent", noting that he saw more than 300 bodies, and town officials believe that there are dozens of bodies in apartments and homes in addition to the forests.

The massacre contains a "cave of evidence" of violations, according to the Ukrainian newspaper. During the six weeks that Bucha was under Russian occupation, local residents said they were subjected to searches, robberies, torture and mass executions.

At least one mass grave has been confirmed in Bucha. 

According to what the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Irina Venediktova, announced on April 3, the bodies of 410 civilians were found in Bucha and other territories in an area recently retaken by Ukrainian forces from Russian forces.

Venediktova said that the investigations led to the commission of thousands of possible war crimes and more than 200 suspects with a physical instrument, confirming their involvement in the crimes committed in the town.

For its part, Moscow denied killing civilians in Bucha, and the Kremlin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke of "fraud" and "fabrication" by Ukraine and the press.

Halyana Opalat looks at the destruction that befell the Bucha buildings and asks: "Why do they hate us so much?", referring to the Russians and their dealings with the Ukrainians.

"Why? Is it because we are a nation? This used to be a beautiful city, but today it looks frightening to behold, it breaks my heart."

A short conversation with one of the survivors recounts a myriad of atrocities committed against the city's residents, the newspaper says. "There are cemeteries everywhere, here and there, in backyards and closed roads," says Professor Vladislava Ljubart, 51, as she waits in line to receive a pick-up. Bread is among the humanitarian aid that came to the town.

"Many, many people are lost. Here in Bucha, the Russians were taking food and jewelry and the people were handing them in just to survive."

She says that the phones were the first thing that the Russian forces confiscated, noting that they pushed the local people to kill their poultry, which they depended on for living, and if they refused, they killed them themselves and took the carcass with them.

"A lot of people have not had food for about two weeks. I will never forget how an old man kissed his neighbor's hand because he brought him a boiled egg and some water," she recalls.

Lyubaret says that the "Kadyrovian" checkpoint was "the most terrifying" in reference to Chechen forces under President Ramzan Kadyrov, who supports Moscow's efforts in Ukraine.

She added to the Ukrainian newspaper, "They were shooting with intent to kill without asking any questions, and without verifying their documents. In that area there were many bodies... The Kadyrovites killed everyone: women, men and children. Age was not important."

She confirmed that some checkpoints were killing men aged between 18-65 years, "they were checking their documents and killing them," noting that other checkpoints were killing some passersby and leaving others "without apparent reason."

Local men who were eligible for military service faced many hardships in Bucha. “They came to us and told us that they had orders to cut our money, to kill us, but in my case they saved me,” says Yuri Snegirov, 57, who survived an execution.

Oleksandr Baitsan, a young man also waiting in line for bread says he survived by hiding in a basement the whole time, out of sight.

He points out to the "Kyiv Independent" newspaper that Bucha was divided into several sectors, adding, "In my sector, the Russians were very busy, so they could not carefully check the housing. They were willing to save some lives, but the military would not."

Ukraine's National Guard showed some of the bodies cremated in Bucha to reporters on April 5, near a children's playground, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Four of the bodies are women and two are men. One of the charred female bodies is small and the head of the Ukrainian National Guard, Andrei Nebitov, is likely to be a girl.

He suggested that the Russian forces found the victims in a basement, where they might have taken refuge before shooting them, then collected the remains in a heap and set it on fire.

Returning to Labaite in the bread queue, the professor confirms that the robberies were cruel, as Russian soldiers would stop people in the street and ask for a handkerchief to remove the clothes they might like, under the threat of fire.

Labaite, in addition to another source for the newspaper, stated that the Russians "sometimes they forced people to strip and lie on the ground, then tied them up, and left them lying until a neighbor would approach them and make sure they were alive and untie them." 

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