Samdech Techo Hun Sen Engages ASEAN's Kao Kim Hoon in Dialogue on Global Peace Initiatives | PM Hun Manet: 'The Importance of Religion is Highlighted When It is Lost' | Samdech Hun Sen Engages with Lao Vice President Pany Yathotou to Strengthen Bilateral Ties | Samdech Techo Hun Sen Hosts Courtesy Call with Zafer Sirakaya of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party |

Russian retreat leaves trail of slain civilians near Kyiv

INTERNATIONAL: Dead civilians still lay scattered over the streets of the Ukrainian country town of Bucha on Saturday (April 2), three days after the invading Russian army pulled back from its abortive advance on nearby Kyiv.

The smell of explosives still hung in the cold, dank air, mingling with the stench of death.

Sixty-six-year-old Vasily, who gave no surname, looked at the sprawled remains of more than a dozen civilians dotted along the road outside his house, his face cast with grief.

Residents said their neighbours had been killed under fire from Russian troops during their month-long occupation.

A body lay near Vasily in the middle of the road, a few metres from his front door.

Vasily said it was his son's godfather, a lifelong friend.

Bucha's still-unburied dead wore no uniforms.

They were civilians with bikes, their stiff hands still gripping bags of shopping.

Some had clearly been dead for many days, if not weeks.

"The bastards!" Vasily said, weeping with rage in a thick coat and woollen hat.

"The tank behind me was shooting. Dogs!"

Local officials gave Reuters reporters access to the area, and a policeman led the way through streets now patrolled by Ukrainian tanks to the road where the bodies lay.

It was not clear why they had not yet been buried.

Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said more than 300 residents of the town had been killed, and a mass grave in the grounds of a church was still open, with hands and feet poking through the red clay heaped on top.

Several streets were strewn with the mangled wrecks of burned-out Russian tanks and armoured vehicles.

Unexploded rockets lay on the road and, in one spot, an unexploded mortar shell poked out of the tarmac.

A column of Ukrainian tanks patrolled, flying blue and yellow national flags.

The Kremlin and the Russian defence ministry in Moscow did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

LOCAL RESIDENT, VASILY (LAST NAME NOT GIVEN), SAYING:"The bastards! I’m sorry. The tank behind me was shooting. Dogs! We were sitting in the cellar for two weeks. There was food but no light, no heating to warm up. We put the water over candles to warm up; put the bottles here (GESTURES TO HIS CHEST) to drink warm water. We slept in felt boots."

LOCAL RESIDENT, MARIYA ZHELEZOVA, 74, SAYING:

"It was very scary, twice I returned from the dead, once a bullet hit the window and broke the glass and landed in the closet. The second time a piece of shrapnel nearly missed my leg. The third time I was walking and didn't know he was there with a machine gun. He fired but missed me. I came home, I was speechless, I was beside myself. Those were the events. Besides, it was scary, I feared for the (lives) of my children."

BUCHA MAYOR, ANATOLIY FEDORUK, SAYING:

"Yes, the situation you're describing is typical of an armed conflict zone. The town of Bucha faced military action and the enemy left their 'gifts' for us after fierce fighting. Given their inhumane treatment, including that of civilians. I will give an example. Corpses of executed people still line the Yabluska street in Bucha. Their hands are tied behind their backs with white 'civilian' rags, they were shot in the back of their heads. So you can imagine what kind of lawlessness they perpetrated here. We will record this page of our history and it will be used at their tribunal but I wouldn't like to talk about that now. You should understand what emotion of relief we are feeling now."


Related News