The body of Iryna Filkina, who was training to be a makeup artist, lies in Bucha, Ukraine after mass killings by Russian soldiers (Reuters)
In a half-hour video, The New York Times has summarized an eight-month investigation into the mass killing of civilians in Bucha, near Kyiv, by Russian troops in March.
After the Russians withdrew from the town and the rest of northern Ukraine in April, local authorities said 419 civilians were slain by the invaders.
See also Ukraine War, Day 40: 100s of Civilians Killed by Russia’s Forces in Bucha
New York Times reporters interviewed eyewitnesses and collected telephone intercepts, radio communications, recordings from surveillance cameras, and videos from Ukrainian military drones.
Reconstructing the killings, the reporters established the involvement of the 234th Airborne Assault Regiment, under the command of Lt. Col. Artem Gorodilov and based in Pskov in western Russia, in the mass killings on Yablonskaya Street.
The killings were accompanied by searches of house for Ukrainian men of fighting age. They were taken away for interrogation and then executed.
Analyzing calls from Russian soldiers, often on phones of slain civilians, the reporters identify 22 of the troops in the 234th Regiment. The findings intersect with those of the site Important Stories, which identified paratroopers from the 104th and 234th Regiments.
The Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office is investgiating military personnel of the 76th Guards Airborne Assault Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Sergei Chubarykin. The division includes the 104th and 234th Regiments.
The New York Times also confirmed the names of 36 people, almost all civilians or POWs, slain in Bucha.
When Russia's war in Ukraine began, residents of Bucha decided to flee with their families, protect their loved ones and search for food. Russian soldiers killed them for it.
We retraced the victims' final moments. https://t.co/kdMyIHhTfY
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 22, 2022