Some Horrors "Russian Troops Left in Bucha" - Burned Bodies

May 15, 2022

(rough, incomplete)

Summarizing points making the rounds in early April, KT "Special Intelligence Operation" would say on Twitter that in Bucha, "Putin's troops massacred hundreds of civilians and raped many women before many were burned in attempt to hide evidence." 

There were dozens of bodies famously left rotting in the streets, maybe with less interest in hiding the evidence. But still... burnies were burnt, though not really as a major theme of the Bucha Massacre. Only two scenes with 8 bodies are really noted, and at least one other not seen. But these are of interest, all considered below with some related episodes, details and issues surrounding the brutality and the reality of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

A Charred Family 

Perhaps the most shocking single image out of the Bucha - shown here in full detail but small size (can be expanded as necessary) - is this view of six bodies piled next to rubbish and badly burned. Discovered later than some bodies, only on April 4, a family of 4 was reportedly included in this pile, including a young child (whose small legs are visible). Incendiary photographs of this scene are widely shared, blurred and not, to expose Russia's brutality. Absent photos, the scene was reported in a widely read AP dispatch (via ABC News). (note: a stray boot is included. I don't suppose that's the kind Russian soldiers wear? There shouldn't be many of them to kill in this area then, but it's an issue in general, as we'll see.)

NPR cites Dymtro Andriv, a Ukrainian National Police spokesperson, saying of these bodies: "We know they were killed by gunfire, because there are many bullet wounds. Then somebody tried to hide this crime by burning the bodies." (NPR) Because of what Andriv said, we should wonder if maybe they didn't die from shooting. They in fact appear more torn up, some in pieces or missing pieces, as if by a moderate explosion - if so, they may be partly burned in that blast, and were presumably peppered with bullet-like shrapnel ("many bullet wounds"). A family of four would die like that, most likely, from being inside a vehicle, as if trying to flee, when it was hit by an explosive shell. 

The burning here seems recent, not exposed to much rain or weathering - probably in April, maybe at the end of March. That burning in turn has solidified some rigor mortis positions, which suggests they were burned while somewhat stiff, or less than 48 hours after death. That is, they probably died in April, after Kiev ran the entire city, or maybe in the transitional days before that, and almost certainly well after they had control of the exact area in question... 

The site of this pile was geolocated to Bucha's southeastern edge, which Ukraine forces had perhaps held for over a week before the last Russians left the city's northwest on the 30th  (March 19 approximate lines traced at right) Now who would want to hide shelling deaths here dating from liberation time and call them Russian shooting deaths? That's probably who burned the bodies. 

In Maxar satellite imagery (low-res preview at right, with control areas & notes added), a massive fire was seen on 3/21 at the SE corner of the city  (see my notes on Maxar's imagery). That's an area filled with truck yards and such at a "back entrance" to Bucha we've seen very little of, including a bridge that may have stayed passable the whole time. That smoke could be from an attack, or it would be a huge evidence-elimination fire. But we can see who would be capable of such fires in this area at this time - as these poor folks were charred to anonymity, by people who remembered to say the 4 had been a family.

A Fire in Mortar Alley

Next in brief: an unseen burning of bodies. Perhaps the first deadly incidents in Mortar alley on Yablunska street came, reportedly, on March 5 and/or March 6. Just as Russian snipers to the northwest allegedly started gunning people down here, what we actually see is shelling from the Ukrainian-controlled southeast that hit at least two spots, including a tree, which it completely severed. A van was set ablaze across the street from the tree, invisible here behind the smoke from its spilled and burning fuel. (Picture source: CNN) These 2+ artillery strikes killed 6 with bodies visible on the street, one maybe having been in a car, along with perhaps another person less visible, and it's said 4 more bodies were inside that van = at least 10 or 11 total killed in that mini-massacre (see mortar alley post). Being a no-man's land, these bodies were left to rot for nearly a month before removal on March 3 and 4. At least one had its hip torn open and chewed away by feral dogs in the meantime. 

"Bucha Civilians"

A second known scene of charred bodies was first shared by Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Ukraine's "Minister of Digital Transformation." Here on Twitter he transformed some stuff, as we'll see, saying: "We continue to find out the horrors Russian troops left in Bucha. USA, give Ukraine a chance to stop Russian aggression. Military support we need the most: heavy artillery (152mm; 155mm), armored vehicles, tanks, military trucks, long-range anti-aircraft systems."

Shown, clockwise from top left: a scene with 8 executed men of 13 total, killed sometime between 3/20 and 3/28, I estimate (whereas Kiev forces took control there by 3/24) - 5 men executed, I estimate, late on April 2 (see here - this is 2+ days after Russia left and hours after Kiev began its clearance operation against collaborators) - the column of tanks and trucks famously obliterated at Vokzalna street on the 27th, with the weapons Ukraine already had but was using up fast - finally, boxed in red, the charred corpses of two men in a wet slime around some old railroad tracks. Here is that photo alone. Fullest size seem unnecessary, but it can be expanded in a new tab if you like.

This disgusting photo is not widely used, but sometimes the more extreme anti-Russian commentators use it for the shock value: Censor.net - but mainly by even more extreme Ukrainian politicinas - Emine Dzheppar, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, because "The world must know the real face of #Russia." 

It's also not the clearest photograph to illustrate the Bucha Massacre. Anyone who took the photo would at least know it wasn't quite in Bucha. They might note the shelling damage to that fence. But no professional journalist gave us this photo: a blurred posting at Wikipedia/Wikimedia cites for original source: twitter of Ministry of Digital Development of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov. For some reason, the file was titled "Bucha civilians massacred by Russian soldiers, c. April 2022 - 01.jpg"

Issues: both look like fighting age males, although most massacre victims were - Footwear and most clothing has been removed, usually - some remaining scraps of clothing are military olive drab color - the deliberate charring may be to hide the victims' identity, like that they were Russian soldiers. In fact ... 

At least 4 killed soldiers are shown in a February 27 video posted by Ukrainian Pravda:  "Battle of Irpen: a column of Russian soldiers was shot." A black-and-red flag of the fascist Right Sector has been erected over the scene. Unique details can be geolocated to the south end of "Giraffe mall" in northern Irpin, just a bit south of the bridge from Bucha. The mall and this building across the street are both burning and billowing smoke.

Some graphic views, from a Telegram group message, via Val on Twitter - center image here shows the two on the tracks before they were stripped down. Val followed this discussion, and says the victors "got 2 names (not Chechens) and called families to gloat."

Another video shows these two bodies, stripped of useful items, laid on the train tracks a certain way, described wrongly as members of Ramzan Kadyrov's Chechen forces. Note the damaged fence missing a panel, compared to the damaged panel seen with the burned bodies. 

A Yan Boechat photo for Voice of America showed this scene, accurately captioned: "The bodies of two dead Russian soldiers lays in the no man's land between the towns of Irpin and Bucha, where Russian and Ukrainian troops had been fighting for more than a week. Irpin, Ukraine, March 12, 2022." See the fence panel used to cover the bodies. A plastic tarp helps, weighted with rocks, a "jack" roadblock that remains later in the muck. See the one leg uncovered here in particular seems chewed into later. All those stray dogs will do that. Ukrainian forces ran this area fine, but chose to leave those bodies for 14 days at this point.

Side-notes on the above photo: Giraffe mall is destroyed - heavy smoke in the distance, apparently in southern Bucha - in the background, people are walking south with white armbands, probably crossing over from Bucha, and using the white as a universal sign of peaceful intent. Most or all people crossing this bridge in March - all on foot as it stays blocked to vehicles - wear such armbands. And so far, they were made to walk past these decaying bodies.

Sometime after that March 12 image, the coverings were removed, wood and fuel were added, and the bodies were burned moderately, then left to decay another 19+ days before they were passed off in April as Bucha massacre victims. So this "horror Russian troops left in Bucha" - as the well-funded minister Fedorov called it - is actually a horror Ukrainian troops left in Irpin.  As Val noted, "Fedorov (one of 500 Zelensky "digital advisors") lies."  

This was actually one of those happy spots where the swift Russian offensive to encircle Kiev was finally and drastically halted a bit short. At least once on the 25th and again on the 27th of February, decisive attacks on Russian forces created some handy roadblocks to form a line at Bucha and Irpin. In fact, this seems to be a forward part of the massive column attacked the same day in Bucha - likely headed for this same crossing to Irpin, it seems they had changed their minds and were returning north when they were struck, destroying about a dozen vehicles and just as many civilian homes. How many civilians were killed? Officially, none. But here I show just at one intact house, two men were found dead, though maybe not killed by the shelling. All told it must be dozens. Probably all of them were passed off as killed by the Russians, mainly by shooting. This Vokzalna attack will need its own post.  

The Ukrainian Pravda / Right Sector video shows serious collateral damage here in Irpin too - at least two civilian cars that people had been driving are now burned out, and the Giraffe mall too is damaged and burning, besides at least the building across the street.

Note how one video cited above also shows a Russian armored vehicle marked V is driven away, by Ukrainians, off to the south for possible use (for example, in false-flag events over the coming weeks). 

That footage starts south of the scene at the tracks with possible Right Sector or allies celebrating a victory. To establish the area, note the billboard and the bulldozer. A France 24 video report around March 10 is from the same scene with the bulldozer, "where Russian forces are advancing." Another France 24 video of 3/24 has a Ukrainian fighter explain the graffiti on the bulldozer's shovel says "welcome to Hell." He then throws a bottle of champagne at a stray dog, narrowly missing it. Alcohol had been banned under martial law, but this was just being lifted then.

Strewn with Bodies

Two days before that incident in Irpin on February 25, to the north and east, a bit outside Bucha city limits, the 4-lane E373 highway to Kiev was severed - the bridge over Irpin river was blown out by Ukrainian artillery, seemingly just as a column of Russian vehicles was trying to cross. Some turned back then, only to be shelled along with some civilian traffic. For example, one truck headed NW away from the bridge was struck at the railroad tracks north of the CITY grocery store, while at least 3 cars going back the same way were also hit to varying degrees. 

Ukrainian sources report a Russian officer was killed at the bridge, and make no mention of civilian casualties. (Kyiv Depo) No civilian bodies are seen in later images from April - anyone injured or killed was already removed from the site sometime before that. 

Closer to the bridge are more Russian military vehicles, at least 2 police trucks  intact, then at least 4 trucks (no tanks) twisted and scorched. At least six bodies of Russian soldiers were left visible around the vehicles (at least 3 in the photo at right), most of them charred, left to rot and maybe to feed the miserable stray dogs.  

Prof. Marcello Ferrada de Noli tweeted a Washington Post story header of bodies strewn in Bucha by the Russians ... with just one body clearly visible, and it was a Russian soldier left by the Ukrainians, as they even note. That and other bodies had been there for 37 days already, by this photo of April 3. This one doesn't seem fit for consumption, as dogs look timidly for food only "near" the corpse. 

I had somehow thought it was the same body deliberately lit up and burned after this image, but it's well ahead of that we see a yellow panel hanging across the guardrail. A dark patch right next to that is seen better in a video from the "clearance operation" around April 2 - probably burned in the attack.

(seen better in passing - still can't tell if that round black object might be his or someone else's head, just a helmet, or other)

Add 5/30: a video posted by Anton Gerashchenko on Telegram shows that's a helmet, and that behind that truck to the left, there's another charred corpse that was chewed away almost entirely below the waist.  

Going Afield, Then Concluding

Another scene, out of context, had seemed possibly related to Bucha, and helped inspire this article. It turns out it wasn't from the same city at all, but it still seems worth including to illustrate the mentality of Ukraine's front line fighters. Some images showed a killed Russian soldier chained to Ukrainian barricade and deliberately burned on that barricade (see scorching continue onto the metal), or sort of burned on a cross, if not exactly a crucifixion or a cross burning - then left hopefully for the Russians to see. 

"Countertroll" OSINT activist "doppelot" did/compiled some good geolocation work to on Twitter to dispel "Russian propaganda" over this scene. Folks were spreading incendiary rumors that the soldier was chained there alive, tortured and then burned alive. To me as well that doesn't make much sense - this was almost certainly post-mortem mutilation, but the idea had some traction. The people arranging the scene were clearly sick, doing this openly, dubbing the victim "Valera" and joking that he "opened beach season in Kharkiv." "Doppelot" didn't endorse or comment on that, except to note with approval hat the body was later taken back off the barricade. Propaganda tackled, Ukraine stood with, and all was good. 

Another source - Military Informant on Telegram - highlights the underappreciated criminality of this spectacle and those like it including, also near Kharkiv, arranging the corpses of Russian soldiers mockingly into a Z shape. This cites a "report of the Dutch edition "HNL" from Kharkov" which I didn't bother digging up yet, and notes "It is not known how these soldiers died - in battle, or were the next victims of execution after being taken prisoner, however, as Dutch journalists say, both of these incidents with bodies can be considered a war crime."

So that's criminal, and really pretty sick, and it was done openly. Now up in Irpin and less openly ... we have two Russian service members deliberately charred as if for anonymity, left out to rot for over a month, then passed off by Fedorov as civilians in Bucha, murdered by the Russians. These two quite likely are listed among the few hundred massacre victims as unidentified civilian males, feeding into war crimes charges against Russia, and into the basis for increasing collective punishments leveled against Russia's people in general - including the widows and orphans of these killed soldiers. 

That's a much smarter and an even more evil way to leverage corpses than just burning them on a sort of cross. We heard the Russians were burning bodies to hide the clues, so it's only fair that Ukraine get the benefit of the any doubt that's raised. Right? 

Not to say there is a policy of including every burned body as a victim of the Russians, but it seems possible here - for these 2 anyway. Maybe the ones called soldiers too? At just 1-2 per destroyed vehicle, I estimate at least 50-75 whose bodies and bits had to be left behind like this, just between 4 attack areas on February 25-27, though presumably far fewer after that (a 4th area in city center hit 2/26 is covered here for now, although I had the Irpin attack wrongly dated 2/25). Even with none of these counted in, the likely dozens of civilians killed along Vokzalna on the 27th and some traffic fatalities on the 25th will be included. Compared to some 400 or so total massacre victims as reported, this might be a significant portion. Considering the rest are mainly killed by shelling from the southeast in no-man's land, and several executions, new shelling and tank-crushing deaths just about when Kiev force came back ... there isn't much of this "massacre in Russian-occupied Bucha" left to go around.