Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Aug 04, 2025

The horrors of Putin's invasion of Ukraine are increasingly coming to light

As Russian forces retreat from the area around Kyiv, the horrors of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine are increasingly coming to light. The death and destruction brought by Russia's war machine are on full display in Bucha, once an up-and-coming area on Kyiv's outskirts for young couples looking for relatively new housing developments, large lawns and good schools.
Survivor of alleged Russian atrocities recounts his ordeal as analysts say development marks wake-up call for Western powers.

“They were shelling all the time, around the clock, and all the shells flew over my house,” Oleh Matsenko, who survived 33 days of Russian attacks in Bucha, a once-tranquil town northwest of Kyiv, told Al Jazeera.

Speaking four days after Russian troops retreated, he said he was particularly frightened when a column of dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles slowly drove by – surrounded by infantrymen peeking into the doors and windows of the houses on his street.

“The column was so big that it took them about two hours to drive past my house,” he said.

Going out for food was a gamble, he said.

Some of his neighbours left their dark, cold houses that had no electricity, running water or natural gas supply to get bread or charge their mobile phones – but never came back.

One day, he went to a market that survived the shelling to get food for himself and several friends and neighbours who flocked to his house, which was warmed by a wooden stove.

And he saw bodies – mostly civilians shot dead by Russian troops.

“I saw it all, the piles of corpses in the streets, all dead. I saw it all, they are still lying there, not everyone was collected,” Matsenko said.

His story confirms the scope of the mass killings of civilians that became evident – and visible – only after Ukrainian forces and journalists entered Bucha on March 31.

Russians sprayed bullets in all directions, firing at any movement in a street or a window, at anything warm they saw in their heat visors, said survivors, officials and the military.

They shot anyone who resisted their presence, interrogations and looting – or simply looked suspicious, they said.

Decomposing under the warming sun, the bodies of men, women and children were seen lying in the streets, sitting in the bullet-ridden, fire-damaged cars in which they tried to flee, according to photos, media reports and officials.

Several bodies were found inside apartments and houses with gaping holes made by shells and explosions. Some had their hands tied, some had traces of torture. Others were found in mass graves, barely covered with soil and garbage.

Bucha’s mayor reportedly said that hundreds of bodies have been found – and the count appears far from over.

“In Bucha, we have already buried 280 people in mass graves,” Anatoly Fedoruk told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

The bodies of 410 civilians were removed from Bucha, the neighbouring towns of Hostomel and Irpin and smaller villages around Kyiv, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said on Sunday, April 3.

Russia rejected the findings and evidence.

The Russian Defence Ministry called them “another production of the Kyiv regime for the Western media”.

The ministry claimed on Sunday that all Bucha residents “had the opportunity to freely leave”, and claimed that the southern suburbs “were fired at around the clock by Ukrainian troops”.

Ukrainian intelligence claimed on Monday to have retrieved the names of all Russian servicemen from the 64th Motor Rifle Brigade, which seized Bucha and carried out the ostensible murders.

“Every Ukrainian should know their names!” the Main Department of Reconnaissance said on Monday.

Observers already compare the mass murders to the horrors of World War II – or the Yugoslavian wars of the early 1990s.

The only difference was that the Russians never collected the bodies of their own soldiers.

“The specifically Russian thing is that after a month of being in Hostomel, the Russian army never cared to send home or at least bury the bodies of Russian special forces who died in the first wave of landings,” Nikolay Mitrokhin, a Russia researcher with Germany’s Bremen University, told Al Jazeera.

The reported killings in Bucha and neighbouring suburbs have been compared to the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Bosniak Muslims by ethnic Serbian militants in the town of Srebrenica.

“The analogy is not coincidental,” Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera.

Duped by the Kremlin’s announcements that said Ukraine needed to be “liberated” from neo-Nazis and ultra-nationalists, Russian troops found themselves among a “stormy sea” of hostile civilians, he said.

They resorted to killing adult males and raping women as the only way to “suppress resistance and achieve a collective nervous breakdown”, he said.

“[It was] physical and psychological destruction of a will to resist,” Kushch said.

To many in the West, the Bucha killings became a wake-up call, the first chance to see the scope of mass killings of civilians that amount to war crimes – or even genocide.

“The world cannot be tricked anymore; the spotlight is on Putin and his forces,” Ivar Dale, a senior policy adviser with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog, told Al Jazeera.

He said he visited Bucha while living in Ukraine – and sees that “the level of evil is nearly incomprehensible”.

“We demand a thorough, international investigation and we demand justice for the victims of these war crimes,” he said.

Five days after its liberation, Bucha is still not safe – and has no power, water or gas supply.

“Just now, less than half an hour ago, there was a shake so strong that my house jumped up. But where it blew up – I don’t know, maybe, a [cruise] missile flew in,” Matsenko said on Monday.

“Something blew up, strongly, but just once.”


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has blamed Russia for the killings and called on Moscow to put an end to the "war crimes."

"For these murders, for these tortures, for these arms torn off by explosions that lie on the streets. For shots in the back of the head of tied people. This is how the Russian state will now be perceived. This is your image," Zelensky said in a Sunday video address.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
UK's Online Safety Law: A Front for Censorship
Nationwide Protests Erupt in Brazil Demanding Presidential Resignation
Parents Abandon Child at Barcelona Airport Over Passport Issue
Mystery Surrounds Death of Brazilian Woman with iPhones Glued to Her Body
Bus Driver Discovers Toddler Hidden in Suitcase in New Zealand
Switzerland Celebrates 734 Years of Independence Amid Global Changes
U.S. Opens Official Investigation into Former Trump Prosecutor Jack Smith
Leaked audio of Canada's new PM Mark Carney admitting the truth about the Net Zero agenda: "We're gonna make a lot of money off of this."
China Enforces Comprehensive Ban on Cryptocurrency Activities
Absolutely 100% Realistic EVO Series Doll by EXDOLL (Chinese Company) used mainly for carnal purposes
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab: "In this new world, we must accept... total transparency. You have to get used to it. You have to behave accordingly. But if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be afraid."
Meet Mufti Hamid Patel, head of Office for Standards in Education in Pakistan
George Soros tells the World Economic Forum: "President Trump is a con man and the ultimate narcissist, who wants the world to revolve around him."
Hamas are STARVING the hostages.
Decline in Tourism in Majorca Amidst Ongoing Anti-Tourism Protests
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
Poland Begins Excavation at Dziemiany After New Clue to World War II‑Era Nazi Treasure
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Threatens Canada with Tariffs Over Palestinian State Recognition
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Trump Sues Murdoch in “Heavyweight Bout”: Lawsuit Over Alleged Epstein Letter Sets Stage for Courtroom Showdown
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
Trump Administration Finalizes Broad Tariff Increases on Global Trade Partners
J.K. Rowling Limits Public Engagements Citing Safety Fears
JD.com Launches €2.2 Billion Bid for German Electronics Retailer Ceconomy
Azerbaijan Proceeds with Plan to Legalise Casinos on Artificial Islands
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
×