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The Russian army committed over 9,000 war crimes over its month-long occupation of the Bucha district of the Kyiv region in 2022, reported Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.
According to Kostin, during the period from February 27 to March 31, 2022, over 270 crimes were committed on a daily basis. More than 1,400 civilians were killed in 33 days, with many of the victims tortured to death. 37 children were among the dead, and another 52 children were wounded.
“I am convinced that all these crimes are not an accident. This is part of Russia's planned strategy aimed at destroying Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation. We will not stop until all organizers and perpetrators of war crimes are convicted,» Kostin wrote.
The prosecutor's office has reported nearly a hundred Russian soldiers as suspects over the past year, and trials have begun against 35 servicemen. The commander of Russia’s Central Military District who led the occupation of the Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kyiv regions, is among those on trial.
The world learned about the killing of civilians in Bucha on April 2, 2022, when journalists and the Ukrainian military entered the city liberated from Russian occupation. Footage published online showed streets littered with corpses, including those with their hands tied behind their backs. The Insider spoke with a number of Bucha residents, who described how the Russian military shot random passers-by, looted homes, and prevented them from leaving.
Nikita Chibrin, a former soldier in Russia’s 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade, which is accused of committing war crimes in Bucha, fled the front and told The Insider about the atrocities he witnessed.