Case of key Russian commander for participation in the seizure of Bucha and the murder of civilians sent to court - Prosecutor General
Kyiv • UNN
The case of Lieutenant Yuri Kim for the executions in Bucha has been sent to court. His involvement in 17 murders and 20 crimes against civilians has been established.
The case of a key Russian occupation commander who participated in the seizure of Bucha and the murder of civilians has been sent to court, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko reported on social media on Thursday, UNN reports.
Details
"For the world, Bucha became a shock that revealed the true essence of the Russian army. 358 victims of Russian executioners – women, men, children. Almost all were civilians. Most were shot or died from mine-blast injuries. Immediately after the de-occupation of the city in April 2022, as a prosecutor of the Bucha District Prosecutor's Office, I personally initiated the first proceedings regarding war crimes of the Russian Armed Forces. Back then, we were collecting individual facts and evidence. Today, it is a full-fledged evidence base," Kravchenko emphasized.
An indictment has been sent to court against Lieutenant Yuri Kim – a platoon commander of the 234th Guards Air Assault Regiment of the 76th Airborne Division of the Russian Armed Forces
According to the Prosecutor General, in March 2022, the Russian commander and the servicemen of his unit committed at least 20 crimes against civilians and 17 murders of peaceful people. "Yuri Kim personally coordinated the actions of his subordinates, gave orders, and controlled their execution. His command responsibility has been proven – he will be held accountable both for his own actions and for the criminal orders and atrocities of his subordinates," the Prosecutor General stated.
The investigation, as reported by Kravchenko, established how the unit entered the city, took up positions, distributed control zones, and committed crimes. "Russian military personnel went around houses, conducted 'filtration' for pro-Ukrainian positions, detained and interrogated civilians, tortured them, simulated executions, and killed. Basements, courtyards, and streets became execution sites," the Prosecutor General indicated.
"The enemy killed entire families, sparing no elderly people. After the retreat, the Russians tried to hide the evidence – the bodies of six victims from two neighboring families were taken away and burned on a playground," Kravchenko noted.
The Prosecutor General emphasized that the evidence base is exhaustive: 59 investigative experiments, testimony from 330 eyewitnesses, 86 photo identifications, 3 exhumations of bodies, analysis of abandoned Russian military documentation, shell casings of the same type at different crime scenes, and other evidence.
"Investigations into the events in Bucha are ongoing. Our task is to identify every Russian serviceman involved, including those responsible for the deaths of 116 people buried in a mass grave near the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle. 59 criminals have already been identified, and 32 indictments have been sent to court. A special headquarters is operating, and over 3,000 investigative actions have been conducted. Step by step, we are identifying the perpetrators. Every war crime has a name. Neither the executors nor those who gave the orders will escape responsibility. We continue our work," Kravchenko stressed.