Videos confirm execution of men in Butja by Russians. ‘Get rid of them, but not here’

The new evidence that The New York Times got their hands on show once again just how guilty the Russian military has committed war crimes in the region around Kyiv. Since the Russians withdrew in April, the bodies of 1,288 civilians killed in streets, houses and mass graves have been found in streets, houses and mass graves in Butsha and other nearby places.

Among them were eight men. Their bodies lay near a building for nearly a month after they were shot on March 4. Surveillance video footage shows Russian paratroopers carrying them down a street in Butja. Minutes later, shots are heard. The videos, one of which was made by a local resident, clearly prove that the men were in the hands of the Russian army shortly before their death.

Russia denies committing war crimes in the withdrawal from Kyiv. Moscow claims that the images of the countless corpses in Butja and the surrounding area, including residents with their hands behind their backs, are ‘fake’. According to the Russians, the bodies were not in the streets when they controlled the area. Satellite photos, however, disprove the Russian story.

surrounded

The killed men hid in a house at the beginning of March. They guarded a checkpoint, but retreated to a local resident’s house after Russian soldiers showed up. The Russian army had previously withdrawn from the area after suffering heavy casualties. On March 3, they moved back into Boetsja.

Surveillance footage shows paratroopers on Yablunska Street, a major street that runs through Butja. A unit is setting up an office building in the street as its headquarters. Then surrounding houses are examined. The house where the Ukrainian men are hiding is located hundreds of meters from the headquarters.

“We’re surrounded,” one of them told a friend in a text message. “They’re firing from armored vehicles.” “We can’t get away,” another man said in a telephone conversation with his wife. ‘I love you.’ In the morning of March 4, the men realize that escape is not possible. They are discovered by Russian soldiers and taken to headquarters.

Executions

A local resident, who was also arrested, told the newspaper that the men had to kneel in the parking lot. One of them is immediately shot. This is confirmed by Ivan Skyba, the 43-year-old construction worker who was the only one of the group to survive the executions. When one of the men confesses during an interrogation that they are Ukrainian fighters, the Russians discuss what to do with the men.

“Get rid of them,” says one of them, according to Skyba. “But not here, or their bodies will be thrown around here.” Two soldiers then take the men to a spot on the side of the building. There lies the body of another fighter, who had previously been captured by the Russians. He was shot in the head. Shortly afterwards, the shots of the executions sound.

“I was shot and fell to the ground,” Skyba told the newspaper. “I got hit in the side. I pretended to be dead. I moved and didn’t breathe. It was cold and you could tell when someone was breathing.’ Skyba thus saved his life, because the Russians fired at the wounded who were moving. He waited about fifteen minutes until he heard the soldiers stop talking.

Ukrainian drone

Skyba then got up and ran away. A neighbor, who had also previously been questioned by the Russians, saw the bodies when she took shelter in another resident’s basement later in the day. Another local resident came across the men’s bodies two days later, after the Russians left her home and she emerged from the basement.

Images taken by a Ukrainian drone confirm the story of Skyba and other residents who also survived the Russian occupation. The corpses of the men are clearly visible in this video. Also in the picture are two Russian soldiers standing guard there.