KYIV, Ukraine — A majority of people killed in Bucha, a town outside the Ukrainian capital reclaimed recently from Russian forces, died from gunshot wounds, the region’s police chief said Friday.
“Ninety-five percent of people were shot by snipers or with small arms,” Kyiv regional police chief Andriy Nebitov was quoted as saying by the Interfax Ukraine news agency at a news conference.
“People were simply shot in the streets during Russia’s occupation. This is a fact that has been recorded. In the 21st century, it’s impossible to hide these kinds of crimes. They were witnessed by observers and also recorded on camera,” he added.
A team of experts from the forensic department of France’s national gendarmerie has been working for several days to examine and identify those buried in the largest mass grave found to date in the devastated town.
The alleged violence by invading Russian forces in Bucha has shocked the world.
Local residents buried the bodies themselves during the bloody siege by the Russian army, which withdrew on 30 March after a month’s occupation.
After their departure, bodies of men dressed in civilian clothes, some with their hands tied, were found scattered in the streets.
Since then, several mass graves have been discovered. The mayor of Bucha Anatoliy Fedoruk says more than 400 bodies have been found since the withdrawal of Russian troops.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court, which deals with rights abuses, has investigators in Ukraine and its chief has described the country as a “crime scene”.
