Digital evidence points to Russian Military as being behind the Bucha killings

Analyzing photo, video, cell phone use, and other data, the New York Times analyzed and reconstructed the killings that occurred on one of Bucha’s streets, down to the minute. The New York Times analysis pointed to a single military unit, and to a single commander, as being the main culprits behind the killings.

The main unit responsible was the 234th Air Assault Regiment, a Russian paratrooper unit. Lieutenant Colonel Artyom Gorodilov led this regiment. The killings targeted unarmed men of war fighting age, children, locals, and other individuals going about their own business. The New York Times concluded that these killings were not a result of crossfire between the Russians and the Ukrainians.

From the New York Times:

Phone Records as Digital Fingerprints

Residents in Bucha said that when Russian soldiers interrogated them, they often seized their phones. Suspecting the soldiers may also have taken the phones of victims, our reporters obtained from Ukrainian authorities a database of all calls and messages placed from the Bucha region to Russia during March. As we interviewed victims’ relatives, we collected their phone numbers and checked if they were in the database. A chilling pattern emerged: soldiers routinely used the phones of victims to call home to Russia, often only hours after they were killed.

By analyzing the phone numbers dialed by Russian soldiers and uncovering social media profiles associated with their family members, The Times confirmed the identity of two dozen paratroopers as members of the 234th Regiment. In many cases, we interviewed their relatives and spoke to some of the soldiers themselves, two of whom confirmed they were in the 234th and served in Bucha. We cross-referenced our findings with personal data sourced from leaked and official Russian databases provided by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit group focused on global security.

Mothers, Fathers, Children: Ordinary Citizens as Victims

The Times identified — for the first time — three dozen people who were killed along Yablunska Street in March. We reviewed death certificates for most of these victims, and the predominant cause of death was gunshot wounds.

The victims were residents of Bucha or neighboring towns, from all ages and professions. Among the victims killed by Russian paratroopers were 52-year-old Tamila Mishchenko and her 14-year-old daughter, Anna, on March 5. They were among four women fleeing Bucha when Russian soldiers fired on their blue minivan.

Nearly all the victims we identified on Yablunska Street were civilians or Ukrainian P.O.W.s. Killing them could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court and deemed war crimes under international humanitarian law. Because of their systematic and widespread nature, the killings in Bucha could also amount to crimes against humanity. Russia has not joined the I.C.C. and is unlikely to cooperate on any potential future cases that involve Russian soldiers.

The Killings Were Not Random Acts of Violence

The victims on Yablunska Street did not die in the crossfire between Russian and Ukrainian forces, nor were they mistakenly shot in the fog of war. Our investigation shows that Russian troops intentionally killed them, apparently as part of a systematic “clearing” operation to secure the path to the capital. Dozens of civilians were shot dead. In other cases, men suspected of links to the Ukrainian military were rounded up and executed.

The New York Times has additional information on the story, including additional photos.

I tried to find another article talking about this topic, in case the New York Times link is restricted. Here is a video documentary associated with the article:

Category: Russia, Ukraine