Putin is Now the "Butcher of Bucha"

Bucha, a commuter town outside Kyiv, has been retaken by the Ukrainian army. The town suffered vast destruction and high civilian death tolls-- but the whole world has been shocked by horrific images of bodies strewn across the empty streets.  Some lie face down on the pavement while others are collapsed on their backs, mouths open, seemingly crying out in tragic testament to the horrors of the Russian occupation.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss expressed her outrage at the scenes, saying "[I'm] appalled by atrocities in Bucha and other towns in Ukraine. Reports of Russian forces targeting innocent civilians are abhorrent. The UK is working with others to collect evidence and support [the International Criminal Court] war crimes investigation. Those responsible will be held to account."

One image showed a man’s body with his hands tied behind his back, and an open Ukrainian passport lay on the ground beside him. Another had a gaping head wound.

Two lay near bicycles and a third was next to an abandoned car. Some lay face up, with their limbs askew, while others were lying face down. 

The causes of death were not apparent, but the appearance of the corpses suggested they had been dead for several days.  The first shocking images of the carnage were captured by Agence France-Presse on the day Ukraine declared the town liberated from Russian troops. Accounts of alleged Russian atrocities emerged as its forces retreat from areas near Kyiv following a failed bid to encircle the capital.  The town of Bucha endured five weeks of near-constant firefights.

Bucha's mayor said 280 people had been buried in a mass grave on the grounds of the Church of St. Andrew and commented on the corpses that littered the streets.  "All these people were shot, killed, in the back of the head," he said.  He added that many of the bodies had white bandages on them 'to show that they were unarmed' and that a 14-year-old boy was among the dead. Some of the victims had tried to cross the Buchanka river to Ukrainian-controlled territory and that entire families had perished, including 'children, women, grandmothers. These are the consequences of Russian occupation,' he added. 

Bucha residents said that bodies were first buried in the grave in the first few days of the war.  Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Sunday that reports emerging from towns in the Kyiv region revealed a "post-apocalyptic picture" of life under Russian occupation. "Victims of these war crimes have already been found, including raped women who they tried to burn, local government officials killed, children killed, elderly people killed, men killed, many of them with tied hands, traces of torture and shot in the back of the head. Robberies, attempts to take gold, valuables, carpets, washing machines. It, of course, will be taken into account by the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine and law enforcement agencies and international criminal courts."