Less than a week after Russia began its 2022 full-scale invasion, Russian armored forces entered Bucha, a small town 24 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of the Ukrainian capital. Just 33 days later, the last of the occupying troops were forced out of the town.
Ukrainian forces, many from its Territorial Defense Forces, who liberated the town were met by scenes of horror – bodies of men, women and children, many who had been tortured or mutilated, lay in the streets, basements, and wrecked houses. In the days that followed, mass graves, torture chambers, and execution sites bore witness to the horrors that Moscow’s forces had inflicted on Ukraine’s civilians.
On Saturday, the Times / Sunday Times reported that, after an investigation that examined the work of independent lawyers and investigators as well as open-source intelligence and the testimony of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, they had identified 13 Russian officers and generals who had participated in or facilitated innumerable war crimes during the occupation.
The report said that in addition to these senior officers, more than 80 other Russian, officers, NCOs, and soldiers who were directly involved in civilian killings in Bucha have been identified. Many more believed to have taken part in atrocities are still unknown.
Who are these war criminals?
The actions condoned by the commanders identified by The Sunday Times, several of whom had previously been named by other outlets, were responsible for some of the worst war crimes committed in the name of President Vladimir Putin’s so-called “special military operation.”
Those named by the Times are:
- Gen. Aleksandr Chayko, then commander of the Eastern Military District at the start of the war.
- Maj Gen. Sergei Chubarykin, commander of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division – the unit responsible for many of the war crimes in Bucha.
- Artem Gorodilov commander of the 234th regiment – known to have personally participated in looting, rape and murder.
- Col. Azatbek Omurbekov, head of the 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade – “the Butcher of Bucha,” had direct responsibility for killings, rape and torture according to the US State Department.
- Nikolai Sokovikov, 5th Guards Tank Brigade, sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for civilian killings.
- Col Andrei Kondrov, head of 5th Guards Tank Brigade, issued orders that led to atrocities.
- Gen. Aleksandr Sanchik, commander of the 35th Combined Arms Army later sanctioned for ordering missile attacks on Ukrainian cities.
- General Valeri Solodchuk, then commander of the 36th Army later responsible for ordering a January 2025 missile attack on a hypermarket in Kharkiv.
- Yuri Medvedev commanded the 37th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade which suffered heavy losses after one of his troops ran him over, his injuries being fatal.
- Col. Denis Suvorov.
- Aleksei Tolmachet.
- Gen. Vladimir Seliverstov.
- Gen. Vadim Pankov.
- Sergei Karasev.
Despite eyewitness testimony from residents, liberating Ukrainian troops, journalists, and investigations by human rights organizations of the atrocities committed, which have been categorized as ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility claiming it was “a staged provocation by Ukraine’s [or British] special services,” a “staged” war crime intended to smear the Russian Army’s reputation and “to disrupt the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine being held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2022 .