War in Ukraine: what we know about the Boutcha massacre – Le Monde

In a war already widely condemned by the international community, the terror caused by the discovery of numerous deaths, even possibly of executions of civilians in the suburbs of kyiv, further isolates Moscow. Point. Where is the town of Boutcha located? Boutcha is a town of about 37,000 inhabitants, 30 km northwest of the Ukrainian capital of kyiv. It is located between the towns of Irpin and Hostomel, which were the scene of violent clashes at the end of February, when the Russian army launched its offensive on kyiv. Victim of intensive bombardments, Boutcha is considered by the regional administration as one of the most dangerous places with Irpin and Hostomel. The Russian army began its capture on February 27, before cutting off the electricity there and extending its control in the following days, despite the resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces. In the following weeks, the inhabitants tried desperately to leave the city, as one resident, Anna, told AFP in mid-March: “There are people in every apartment, every house. The most important thing is to get the kids out. There are many children and women. On March 26, not managing to seize the capital kyiv, Moscow announced a change of strategy and the withdrawal of its forces, to better concentrate on the Donbass region, in the east and south of the country. The Russian invasion forces are gradually leaving the kyiv region: according to Moscow, they are withdrawing from Boucha on Wednesday March 30, even if fighting continues until Saturday April 2. The city will return to the Ukrainian flag on March 31, announced the mayor, Anatoly Fedorouk. Location map as of March 30, with the town of Boutcha. THE WORLD What happened in the city? When the Ukrainian soldiers retake Boutcha, they discover about twenty bodies wearing civilian clothes in a city street. The first videos are circulating on April 1, in Telegram loops of residents of the nearby town of Irpin. In the following twenty-four hours, after the Ukrainian forces ensured that the bodies were not trapped, the photos and videos taken by journalists on the spot confirm the presence of corpses in the streets. Agence France-Presse (AFP) then claims to have identified “at least twenty-two”. On April 2, around fifty other bodies were identified in a mass grave, according to the words of the local relief chief, Serhii Kaplytchny, reported by AFP. “Many civilians were killed more than three weeks ago, when the Russian army controlled the city” According to a report by the British agency Reuters, the decomposition of some bodies shows that they had been there for days or even weeks. This dating is confirmed by the New York Times, which used satellite images (from the Maxar company) of the city, on which at least eleven bodies can be seen lying in Yablonska Street in Boutcha, between March 9 and March 11, 2022. According to the investigation of the American daily, “analysis of videos and satellite imagery shows that many civilians were killed more than three weeks ago, when the Russian army controlled the city”. While the presence of craters suggests that some victims died during a bombardment, others were found with their hands tied behind their backs, face down, with a bullet in the back of the neck, suggesting an execution. But other means seem to have been employed. “There were throwing grenades in cellars, and mines that were installed in front of the gates of homes. And on leaving their homes, civilians jumped on these mines”, testified on France Inter Artem, a resident who managed to flee the city on March 12. He also says that the Russian soldiers he saw were “often drunk”. Drone video prior to March 11, unearthed by the Bellingcat investigative site, shows a column of Russian tanks firing at a cyclist. Upon their arrival in the town of Boutcha, the Ukrainian soldiers discover the lifeless bodies of civilians in the street. Some are tied with their hands behind their backs, face down, a bullet in the back of their necks. ZOHRA BENSEMRA / REUTERS Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited Boutcha on Monday, April 4, accuses Moscow of “war crimes” and “genocide”. On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the images of Boutcha “point to deliberately targeted civilians”, citing “very disturbing evidence”. How big is the human toll? Between the bodies littering the streets, those buried in a hurry and the corpses lying in the houses, the count of the dead remains provisional. Sergueï Matuk, an improvised gravedigger rescuer met by Le Monde, believes that he himself buried “about 240” bodies in a mass grave and recovered the remains of “about 300 people”. Figures consistent with those put forward by the mayor of Boutcha, Anatoly Fedorouk, who explains to AFP that 280 people had to be buried by the Ukrainians in recent days in “mass graves” in Boutcha, because the number of corpses has increased. was accumulating. The balance sheet could continue to climb. According to the Ukrainian authorities, it would exceed four hundred dead. Graves of “unknown” dead in Boutcha on March 4. According to local sources, these are civilians killed by the Russians. STRINGER / REUTERS How did the international community react? The discovery of the bodies sparked international outrage. More than 145 Russian diplomats have been expelled from Europe in the space of forty-eight hours. In a press release, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs “condemns in the strongest terms such acts constituting, if confirmed, war crimes”. Lithuania has announced the dismissal of the Russian ambassador, following the “atrocities committed” by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Germany, Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Spain have also decided to expel Russian diplomats. A rally on April 4 in Yerevan, Armenia, in front of the Ukrainian embassy, ​​to honor the dead of Boutcha. KAREN MINASYAN / AFP In retaliation, the twenty-seven member countries of the European Union have launched discussions on new sanctions aimed at imports of Russian coal and oil. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Tuesday 4 April that she wanted to “create the conditions for Europe to completely withdraw from fossil fuel imports from Russia”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Foreign Minister Josep Borrell will visit kyiv later this week. US President Joe Biden is calling for a “war crimes trial” and says he wants to take “additional sanctions” against Russia. For its part, Beijing has again called for peace talks. How is Russia defending itself? Reacting to the expulsions of Russian diplomats, the Kremlin considers that these sanctions are due to a “lack of foresight” on the part of Europe, which reduces the “possibilities of communicating at the diplomatic level in these difficult conditions”. According to Moscow, the published photos and videos of Boutcha are only a “new provocation” on the part of Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov evokes “a well-orchestrated staging” and “a monstrous falsification”, adding that Moscow intends to “vigorously defend” its own version. According to the official argument, “Russia has committed no crime, no civilians have been subjected to violence. During the Russian presence, civilians moved freely in Boutcha”. Moscow ensures that the Russian troops would have withdrawn from Boutcha before these bodies did not appear, and that the latter would not show any trace of cadaveric stiffening. However, the Russian defense of Moscow is very fragile. The Kremlin claims that these abuses were committed after the Russians left on April 1, which contradicts testimony, video archives and satellite data. Moscow is also pushing the idea that the Boutcha massacre was staged, arguing for example that on a Ukrainian television report, the hand of one of the dead is moving – an optical effect caused by a drop of ‘water. Read also: Boutcha massacre: on social networks, Moscow’s disinformation operation Are there other suspicions of war crimes? Yes. “In many villages of the liberated districts of kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions, the occupiers committed acts that the inhabitants had never seen, even during the Nazi occupation eighty years ago”, accuses Volodymyr Zelensky in a video, April 4. Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova affirms that “in terms of human losses, the worst situation is in Borodianka”, a commune in the kyiv oblast. The AFP, which was able to go to this “ripped open” city, did not see any corpses, but was able to observe the “destruction as far as the eye could see” and collected several testimonies of the execution of civilians. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor general, the human toll could be even heavier in Borodianka, almost completely destroyed by Russian bombardments. Survivors speak of executions of civilians. SERGEI SUPINSKY / AFP The first carnage discovered in the territories abandoned by the Russian army took place between the villages of Myla and Mriia, on the road which connects kyiv to Zhytomyr, the E40, relates one of the special envoys of the World in Ukraine, Rémy Ourdan. He describes a “killing [qui] stretches for almost a kilometer”, essentially charred civilians near their cars, targeted when they tried to flee, and who, for some at least, may have been burned after the fact. Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers In Boutcha and in the kyiv region, scenes of carnage On April 4, Jeremie Paire, special correspondent for the BFM channel, spoke of “other martyr cities around kyiv”, taking the example of the “absolute horror” he witnessed in the village of Motyzhin, 42 km west of kyiv, where the mayor, her family and several residents were found tortured and executed. The day before, the correspondent of Les Echos, Guillaume Ptak, reported several corpses of civilians executed in the town of Irpin. Based on testimonies of survivors, the NGO Human Rights Watch also reports summary executions in the village of Staryi Bykiv, in the Chernihiv region, an attack with smoke grenades and firearms against civilians in a basement in the village of Vorzel, about 50 kilometers northwest of kyiv, as well as rapes in the Kharkiv region.