Remembering Bucha's second liberation: 514 residents still missing, 180 bodies unidentified

The National Police of Ukraine reported the information.

On March 31, 2022, Ukrainian military forces liberated the town of Bucha in the Kyiv region. 

"These were dreadful days. Primarily, given the nature of my service, I've witnessed numerous violent deaths, but what we saw in Bucha cannot be compared to anything. It was a scene of human remains, it was execution grounds with people shot in the back of the head, it was bodies of deceased individuals lying right on the streets," shared Andriy Nebytov.

According to the National Police, two years ago, 422 bodies of Ukrainian citizens were found in Bucha, and this figure remains relevant to this day.

In the surrounding villages of Bucha district, a total of 1,190 bodies were found. Nearly a thousand of them, according to the deputy head of the National Police, died from violent deaths, “meaning they were shot or died from explosive mine injuries.”

Currently, 514 residents of the Kyiv region remain missing.

"Regarding the execution grounds - there were two in Bucha. One was the Promenystyi camp, where people were tortured in the basement and shot in the back of the head, and the other was at the intersection of Vokzalna Street, where mass executions of our citizens also took place. We understand that around Bucha were the positions of the Russian army, where they brought people from their own homes, tortured and killed them, where we also found bodies buried, tortured. And we understand that perhaps these are not the last discoveries, because the number of people who are currently missing is unfortunately very high," explained Andriy Nebytov.

According to him, there have been 23,000 criminal cases registered across the Kyiv region, regarding crimes committed by Russian soldiers. In total, in Ukraine, there have been over 116,000 such cases registered.

• On June 1, 2023, a memorial was established in Bucha to commemorate the civilians who died because of Russian crimes during the occupation in February and March 2022.
• On November 20, 2023, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on Russian military personnel involved in war crimes in Bucha and Andriivka.
• On December 22, 2023, it became known that law enforcement officers served a notice of suspicion for ill-treatment of civilians to the commander of the occupying riot police unit, who ordered the abduction, illegal detention and torture of Ukrainians during the occupation of the Bucha district of Kyiv region.
• On March 5, it was reported that Ukraine had served a notice of suspicion to two Russian servicemen who shot a local resident during the temporary occupation of Bucha, Kyiv region.
• On March 8, it became known that the court found guilty in absentia a serviceman of the 64th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Russian armed forces who beat, tortured and threatened to kill civilians in Bucha.