Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: I did not want to leave my Donbas

as I had lived there for 48 years. Marinka was destroyed by bombing.

Krasnohorivka was destroyed by bombing. What did we have to do?
Oleksandr Chikmarov, Bucha resident: I have a brother; he had left much
earlier. He was looking for a place to live. And he liked Bucha. Then we moved
here.
Vitalii Chikmarov, Bucha resident: We brought our parents here. We all were
here. You cannot imagine how happy we were to be here all together.
News reports: The president of Russia has announced a military operation in
Ukraine.
Ukraine has been attacked from the North, the East, and the South. Russia has
gained some territories. / На Україну напали з півночі, сходу та півдня. Росія
здобула деякі території.
Metro stations turned into bomb shelters. // Станції метро перетворилися на
бомбосховища.
У столиці та Київській області з пів на 5 ранку чути вибухи.
Explosions have been heard in the capital and Kyiv region since 4:30 am.
Ukraine accuses Russia of a massacre in Kyiv suburbs. // Україна звинувачує
росію у масових вбивствах у передмістях Києва.
The bodies of at least 20 civilian men shot execution-style and left lying amid
rubble in the streets of Bucha. // Тіла щонайменше 20 розстріляних
цивільних лежать на вулицях Бучі.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyi has accused Russia of genocide. //
Український президент Володимир Зеленський звинуватив росію у
геноциді.
We are at a mass grave of residents of the city, it is being exhumed at the
moment. / Ми біля масового поховання жителів міста, наразі відбувається
ексгумація.
These are the bones of one woman and two kids. We don’t know yet who they
are. We will identify them. / Це кістки жінки та двох дітей. Ми досі не
знаємо, хто вони.
Bucha is just one town among many others that were on the way of the Russian
troops from Belarus to Kyiv. In a month after the beginning of a full-fledged
invasion, this town in Kyiv region received the honorary title of a hero-city, and
a week later, it became the symbol of the Russian war crimes. We will tell only
one story. And behind each of these fences, there is its own story about escape,
rape, death under the rubble, shooting in the back of the head or weeks of fear.
On each of these streets, there are traces of tank tracks, Russian army boots and
imperial impudence. Here, locals were afraid to go outside the yard and lived in
communes, climbing over the fence to the neighbors. Here, they were tortured
and killed. The elderly. Women. Children. Bodies had not been removed from
the streets here for weeks. An attempt to save human remains from hungry dogs
was a feat.
Bucha 22
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: Oleh, something happened to the
handle… I think I pulled it too strongly… Let it be like this or I won’t be able to
open it again. Oh, it’s ready. Just put the bucket here, I will bring it in later.
Oleh Doroshuk, Bucha resident: – Shall I take away these bicycles? You
probably won’t need them here…
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: – I don’t know where to put them,
Oleh. There is one more in the basement…
Oleh Doroshuk, Bucha resident: – Let’s put them in the basement. Let them
stay there not to upset you. When your son returns from hospital, he will decide
what to do with them.
The war came to Ukraine in 2014. Russia annexed Crimea and, hiding its
presence, began fighting in Donbas. Ukraine was losing territories and soldiers.
Dozens of thousands people took up arms to defend the Ukrainian land.
Hundreds of thousands Ukrainian families were forced to flee their homes.
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: They did not want Russian passports
and they did not want to live in Russia. They wanted to live in Ukraine only.
My son said, “I will take you here”. So we bought a house here… We sold our
house there and bought here. The elder son helped us to buy it. They got
married and lived their lives. Children were born. The life was very good, life
was good… They helped each other. They loved children and they loved each
other.
(Singing a song) “There is a country in the world where red viburnum blooms.
Mountains, rivers and montane meadows are my Ukraine.”
Oleksandr Chikmarov, Bucha resident: Matvii is my elder son. Klym is the
younger one. My wife is Marharyta Olehivna Chikmarova.
Vitalii Chikmarov, Bucha resident: It is his destiny… He is like our grandfather.
The grandfather retuned from the war without a leg. A left one. The same is
with Oleksandr. He suffered so much, poor thing. The previous year he had a
serious health issue. He was on the verge of death. He underwent surgery.
Everything ended well then. And here is the war, again.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. They concentrate their efforts here for some
reason.
– Because it’s Hostomel international airport.
On February 24, 2022, Russian paratroopers landed at Hostomel airport. At the
same time, the troops of the Russian Federation started an offensive against
Kyiv from the territory of Belarus.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: Nobody believed in
this war until it started. I believed and I was preparing for it. Before the war, I
spent about a month and a half organizing tactical medicine courses for the
population, for civilians. In 2015, I served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine; I
was drafted. I served in the 54 mechanized brigade, in the medical unit. I was a
th
senior surgeon. You know, I realized with my mind there would be a war.
However, my heart did not believe it would happen... I did not want to believe
this could happen. You see, it turned out that it could.
Andrii Halavin, the dean of St. Andrew Church in Bucha: There are hard
times, there are times of despair. There are times when everything is ok and a
human forgets about faith and God. And on the contrary, when you are under
fire, when you are staying in the basement, you pray very easily. It was
impossible to gather people for prayer. It was just to put people in danger.
Saturday, February 26, was a remembrance day, we had a church service, the
explosions were heard and the walls of the church were shaking. That is why it
was very dangerous to gather people, and we did not hold services after that.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: In the morning on
February 27, the first [Russian] column arrived. I was in a good mood, I was
listening to the radio and making an omelet, we were going to have breakfast.
Then everything began. Shooting everywhere. The first column was small,
about 5-7 vehicles. Reconnaissance, probably. They were here, on Vokzalna
Street. Explosions were heard, our barricades were blown up. In the morning,
orcs [Russians] were on Pushkinska Street, shooting.
Andrii Halavin, the dean of St. Andrew Church in Bucha: I was going to the
church service, was leaving the house. The fighting began. I had to hide because
the fighting was about 200-250 meters from my house.
On February 27, a Russian military column was destroyed on Vokzalna Street
in Bucha.
Fighting for Bucha lasted for a few more days.
Oleksandr Chikmarov, Bucha resident: We stayed in the basement for a
week or more. When it was quiet, we went out from the basement. Mom and
Dad were staying on the ground floor; they could not get down into the
basement. My mother was always with my father, because my father was
paralyzed and there was no way to get him down into the basement.
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: They were staying in the basement.
Matvii, my elder grandson, was staying in the basement for 8 days and wrote on
his laptop, “I love Ukraine very much. We were attacked by Russians, I hate
them.” He wrote, “If I were 18, I would go to defend my Ukraine. But I am only
9 years old, I can’t defend it yet. Nevertheless, I love my Ukraine very, very
much.
We are raising the Ukrainian flag over the town.
The Ukrainian flag was raised near the Bucha Town Council on March 3.
However, on March 4, the number of the Russian military in the town increased,
they were hiding their armored vehicles in the yards of private houses and near
apartment blocks.
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: The morning of March 5 was so
quiet. I thought the shooting had stopped. They left and I closed the gate. Rita
came to the gate and said, “Mom, bye.” My son did not say anything, and I did
not say goodbye to him. I was so shocked that I didn't even say goodbye to my
grandchildren. They were sleepy, got into the car and drove off. And the
neighbors, who lived next door, went with them. The wife was driving, and her
husband was sitting in the car with his mother-in-law.
Oleksandr Chikmarov, Bucha resident: We packed things. We had to go so
we went. It was psychologically impossible to stay there. And my brother also
had a hard time in Forest Bucha [district]. We often spoke on the phone with my
brother, and the sounds of shooting and shelling were even louder there.
Vitalii Chikmarov, Bucha resident: It was so cruel. It was not far from here,
near the crossroads to Hostomel. He packed things. At 7 am, we were ready and
waiting. I said to Rita to turn on the loud mode so that I could hear. She said,
“We are on the way”. I said, “Tell me what is on your left and right”. She said,
“Everything is ok”. They were crossing the Warsaw highway and turning here,
as I understood. I asked, “What do you see?” She answered, “UTEM [plant] is
in front of us. Somebody is standing there”. I said, “Stop!” And she told
Oleksandr to stop. He stopped and then she shouted, “Oh, they shot me, my
leg”. I shouted, “Turn back!” At the same time, she started to scream. There
must have been second and third shots. And that is all, the connection was
lost.
Oleksandr Chikmarov, Bucha resident: We stopped, and the neighbors
stopped. The shooting began immediately. There were neither warning shots,
nor talks. The shooting began immediately. I think the children were killed at
once. I looked at Rita and the children. They were lying dead. Rita said
something to me – and that’s it. I looked at her – she was dead.
Vitalii Chikmarov, Bucha resident: Moreover, the windows in Oleksandr’s
car were not tinted. His car was going first and children could be seen in the
back seat. And Rita was sitting in the front seat. The car was like an aquarium. I
think it could be seen that peaceful civilians were in the car. There could not
have been any doubts.
Oleksandr Chikmarov, Bucha resident: My leg was wounded. I looked at
it… I started to get out of the car, a part of the leg was hanging loosely. I was on
the ground and crawled to the trees. People came up to me. A man came up to
me and I started to talk to him. He found a blanket in the neighbors’ car and
wrapped my leg. He went to look for help for me; in some time, two men came
up to me. At this moment, a car was passing by. The guys stopped it and put me
in the back seat.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: He was brought here
on March 5 morning. People shouted that there was a wounded and we ran
there. I looked at him, put the tourniquet and tried to speak to him. We took his
blood pressure. It was 60 to 0. We put a dropper. There was no peripheral blood
circulation, I was holding the dropper and the blood was flowing through it. I
was squeezing the dropper to get him to the hospital. Thanks God, we took him
there. He was immediately brought to the surgery unit. Thanks God, he is
alive.
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: He opened the car door and
managed to get out. A man helped him and pulled him under a tree. We are
looking for this man, we want to thank him for saving my son. As soon as he
pulled him away from the car, it took fire.
Bucha was occupied on March 5. Nevertheless, people were trying to flee the
whole next week. However, the “green” [humanitarian] corridors worked only a
few times.
Andrii Halavin, the dean of St. Andrew Church in Bucha: There were a lot
of shot cars. People were trying to flee from war, they took families and tried to
evacuate. The vast majority of them were shot. Some were lucky enough to
escape through fields and gardens. However, these were few lucky cases. On
March 4-5, they [Russians] came here for a long time.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: There were a lot of
stories, a lot of tragedies. Bucha has suffered a lot. They [Russians] did not stop
in Hostomel, they just passed it. Some of them stopped in Irpin. In Bucha, they
planned to stay for long.
Anton Dovhopol, the head of Irpin City Hospital in Bucha: A pregnant
woman, a child or a civilian did not stop them [Russians]. Nothing stopped
them. White armbands did not stop them. They did not like the appearance or
they did not like how a person moved and they started shooting. That’s it.
News rarely came from the occupied Bucha. There was no communication,
electricity, gas or water supply in the town. The cruel terror was gaining a
victory over desperate attempts to survive – in basements, shelters, on the way
to get water or to the relatives.
Anton Dovhopol, the head of Irpin City Hospital in Bucha: The Geneva
Convention means nothing for them [Russians]. It’s “bull ****”, they said.
That’s what they said, “We don’t pay any attention to the Geneva Convention,
it’s bull ****”. That’s how they wage war. Snipers were sitting in the “Grand
Bourges” [residential complex], shooting people in the head for fun. No one
was buried in Bucha from February 24 to March 10. Dead bodies were lying in
the streets. It was just forbidden to bury people. We collected all bodies in the
area near the hospital and put them in the pathology anatomy unit. On March
10, I realized that it was a disaster because 67 bodies were lying in that small
facility. They [Russians] came to the hospital. We asked, “Can we bury
people?” They prohibited the burial three times, and only on March 10, they
said, “Bury”. The priest was standing there, Father Andrii. I asked him, “Can
we bury people in the church territory?" We found a tractor and drove it to the
church, found a tractor driver quite by chance. He dug a pit. That’s how we
buried them.
Andrii Halavin, the dean of St. Andrew Church in Bucha: The first burials
took place on March 10. 67 people were buried on the first day. Then that mass
grave was full, another pit was dug. We buried people in another pit. There
were about 50 bodies there. It was not from all Bucha, they were bodies that
were lying in the morgue and on the streets nearby. People buried the dead in
gardens, near houses, in parks, on playgrounds.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: To get out of the
yard or even to go from one floor to another in some apartment blocks meant to
put life in danger. I helped those who could get to me. People became the
hostages of the situation, especially those who need special attention – the
disabled, the elderly. They found themselves in a completely helpless
condition.
Andrii Halavin, the dean of St. Andrew Church in Bucha: The worst thing is
when you realize that these people died unjustly. And the Moscow Patriarchate,
represented by their Patriarch Kirill, approves and blesses all this... And these
people, they did not provoke the Russians in any way, they did nothing wrong.
They were not even military, they were civilians. In addition, the worst thing is
that they were killed by those who said that they were Christians, they were
Orthodox. Unfortunately, the worst thing is to experience all this emotionally.
Why did they [Russians] come to every house and loot? Why did they rape
women? There were even cases when they raped children. Why did they torture
people? Here in Bucha, there are several places where people were tortured and
killed, young men and adults with their hands tied behind their backs. They
were shot in the back of the head. I don't know why they did it.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: I say it as a person
who was directly involved in war hostilities – the military do not behave like
this. This is impossible. The military should wage war against the military.
These just shot people.
The Russian military ordered to wear white armbands in the streets. However,
these armbands or big inscriptions “children” on cars often did not help. Only
desperate people dared to remove dead bodies from the streets. Oleksandr
Chikmarov was lucky enough to have been evacuated to Kyiv “Okhmatdyt”
clinic. His mother did not know the condition of her son until the end of the
occupation. The bodies of Oleksandr’s children and wife lay in the car on Lech
Kaczynski Street from the beginning to almost the end of the occupation.
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: They had been lying in the car for
23 days. Nobody could take them away because of constant shooting.
Oleh Doroshuk, Bucha resident: I looked in the car and saw the bodies inside.
I thought it was a wrong thing to leave them there, the mother and children. I
took a blanket and put the bodies onto it, and then I gathered the remains – a
skull, bones, and put them in the bag. I wrapped everything, put on my shoulder
like a sack and went home. We came to the church territory and dug a grave
aside. Why aside? Because we knew who they were. We put a sign on the grave
and a cross. There were many unidentified bodies in the mass grave, so we
decided it would be right to do it this way. And for the grandmother it would be
easier, she would know where her grandchildren and daughter-in-law were
buried. That’s all. We buried them on March 28. And on March 31, they
[Russians] fled. Then all these horrors were unveiled, mass graves were found
in Bucha.
The occupiers did not manage to capture Kyiv either in three days or in a
month, as they had promised to the population of Russia. They retreated. After
regaining control of Bucha, the Ukrainian authorities and the world started
talking about the genocide.
Iryna Venediktova, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine: These are the bones
of a woman and two children. The exhumation is taking place now.
Journalist: Do you know the names of the victims?
Iryna Venediktova, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine: We have only
witnesses that this is a woman with her two children. We still do not know who
they are. We will identify them. I think we will do it with the help of DNA
testing. It is just the beginning. You see a team of French experts working here,
they are forensic experts, and together we will identify who these people are.
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: My grandchildren played football all
the summer. The younger grandson was good at football, and he said to his
Mom, “Mom, I want to be a footballer!” Yes, he played well. He dreamt to
become a footballer. It did not come true. Damned bastards, why did they come
here? They killed my grandchildren.
Matvii bought an alarm clock not to be late for school. I told him, “Mom will
wake you up anyway.” He said, “Grandma, I want to get up earlier to get ready
for classes.”
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: One cannot get into the grave alive.
Instead of grandchildren and Rita. I have to live. For the sake of the son who
survived, for the sake of the other son who has been rescuing us all our lives. He
wanted to save us from the war in Donetsk, but the war came here.
Vitalii Chikmarov, Bucha resident: I will go to the morgue, will take care of
everything. I will bring everything. I will find out everything. I will call you, I
will tell you whether it will be possible to bury them tomorrow or not. Stay
home, I will find out everything. When I return, we will see what to do then…
Let's go.
The Bucha morgue was one of a dozen places to which the civilians killed by
the Russians were taken. Refrigerators, tired forensic experts, and hundreds of
people who were waiting in long queues day after day with hope to find
relatives.
– To you or to the relatives… Did anybody keep the record of body
identification?
– Was it a mass grave?
– Yes.
Vitalii Chikmarov, Bucha resident: I don’t know the details. They gathered
the remains as thoroughly as they could. Well, that's not the point now. The
main thing is that their remains were buried. And there is a grave that we may
visit till the end of life. There is a place where to go and to whom to go to.
The number of civilians killed in Bucha indicates hundreds of war crimes
committed by the Russian military during the occupation. The crimes that were
committed by specific units, officers and soldiers. The crimes like the shooting
of the Chikmarov family and their neighbors.
For almost a month, we had been looking for a man who took Oleksandr
Chikmarov to the hospital. Everyone we spoke to called him a taxi driver. When
we found the man, it turned out that he was not a taxi driver, but he became the
most valuable of the witnesses.
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: On March 5, when these creatures
[Russians] were already everywhere, I left from here and went to my place in
Forest Bucha [district]. I turned left and saw a BMD [airborne infantry combat
vehicle] right in front. It was just on the road. I drove around it, stopped and
looked at it from all sides. The fighting vehicle was empty. Then I continued my
way. Forest Bucha is there. Every day the number of shot cars on the road
increased. Right in front of me, I saw two cars in this turnout: a white Dodge
and another car in front of it. And two people were busy doing something. I
slowed down and they gesticulated to stop, so I stopped here.
I stopped, opened the window, and they asked if I could take the wounded man
to the clinic located in the apartment block on Pushkinska Street. I asked where
the wounded man was, and they said, “There, in the park.” I said, “Guys, let's
find something like a blanket.” I was pulling him from the left side and they
were holding him from that side, we put him in the back seat. Well, you can see
blood traces on the door, that’s from his leg.
– We’ve brought the taxi driver.
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: – We’ve met!
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: – Greetings! Yeah, I
think so.
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: – This is the doctor who, in my opinion, did
everything so quickly and in such a proper way that Oleksandr eventually
survived.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: – The only thing he
told me was that his name was Oleksandr. That’s all.
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: – And that his last name was Chikmarov.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: – Yeah, his last name
was Chikmarov.
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: – And he was from Donetsk.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: – Yeah. That’s all.
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: – We were just lucky that day and the
following days. We were just lucky. There was a very strong probability of
getting under fire.
Serhii Sakhatskyi, Bucha resident, a military surgeon: – A lot of lucky
coincidences. God probably has a plan for us.
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: There was no one near this place, only the
BMD. It seems they were shooting from there. There are several streets there;
from there they targeted this car. So I decided that this BMD – number 517, oh
no, 715 – was the enemy armored vehicle that shot these two cars. That's where
it stood...
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: – Hi, I am Valeryi
Volodymyr Trofymcnuk, Bucha resident: – I am Volodymyr. Greetings. It
was at about 8 o’clock.
Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: – So did it come from there?
Volodymyr Trofymcnuk, Bucha resident: – It was a column of 40 vehicles.
And this one was the 41 . It turned here.
st

Valerii Ranskyi, Bucha resident: – Was it the last one?

Volodymyr Trofymcnuk, Bucha resident: – Yes, it turned here for some
reason. I do not know why. It made a U-turn and got stuck here. Number 715
was written on it. When our [Ukrainian] troops came, it was still standing here.
Then they [Ukrainian military] came, looked at it, and said they would take it.
The truck arrived, it was put onto a platform, and they left.
Roman, the grandson of the owner of the house, near which the enemy BMD
had stood for a month, found on his phone a zoomed-in photo taken on March
4. It shows several armored vehicles near the “UTEM” plant and the place
where the shooting took place the next day. According to other residents of
Lech Kaczynski Street (former Chkalov Street), a column of enemy vehicles
appeared on the street on March 4. It stayed here overnight and left on March 5
morning. In addition, Roman found a video taken from the window of his
apartment. This video and the testimony about the armored vehicle with board
number 715 was all we had. There is also intelligence data that in the first days
of March, there were four Russian airborne regiments in Bucha: the 104 and th

237 regiments from Pskov, and the 51 and 137 regiments from Tula and
th st th

Ryazan. There is a video of March 3, which shows a man on a bicycle being

shot by an airborne infantry combat vehicle.
With the help of experts, we found out that the video shows BMD-2. Such
vehicles have been in service in all airborne units of the Russian Federation
since 1985. In 2016, the airborne forces started to use an improved
modification of the combat vehicles – BMD-4M. In this video of the movement
of the Russian column towards Gomel, Belarus, on January 22, we see a vehicle
with board number 715. This is the column of the 137 regiment of the 106
th th

Guards Airborne Division. However, this vehicle is not the one we are looking
for, it is a newer one.
For more than three weeks, we had been searching for the vehicle we needed –
in the videos of all Russian airborne regiments, on forums and on Telegram
channels. The on-board number helps to identify the unit to which the BMD
belongs. However, other symbols are also important. All Russian airborne
regiments and brigades have different signs – circles, squares, triangles. On the
Russian social network, we found the BMD-2 with board number 715 in the
group of the 76 Assault Airborne Division. In front of the number, there was an
th

inverted triangle with figure “1” inside. We found the same triangles in other
photos and videos of the combat vehicles of the 104 regiment of this division,
th

stationed near Pskov. We also needed to find out the identification symbol on
the vehicle in Bucha. The search for identification marks in the videos was
significantly complicated by the fact that before the invasion in Ukraine, the
Russian military had painted out marks on their vehicles.
Pavlo Netosov, the head of International Search Organization “Citadel”:
All people are patriots now. It is not a question… You are a Ukrainian, you live
in Ukraine. You can live anywhere, but you choose either the evil side or the
good side. Ukraine is the good side for the whole world now. Russia is the evil
side now. We preserve and tell the history of Ukraine as it was. Military
direction is the main for us. And the main direction of the military history is the
Russian-Ukrainian war. This is history. There is the history of one place, the
history of one exhibit, the history of one person, the history of Ukraine as a
whole.
Pavlo Netosov, an employee of the military museum, took part in the defense of
Bucha and Irpin. After the de-occupation, he has been working in Kyiv region,
collecting exhibits for the museum – fragments of the enemy equipment and
documents. They can be used to reconstruct not only the history of the Russian
aggression, but also war crimes. Pavlo was the last from several dozen people
whom we approached, hoping to find out to which unit the BMD, which stuck
near the place where the two families were shot, belonged.
Pavlo Netosov, the head of International Search Organization “Citadel”: I
remember very well that on March 4, this column was moving from the village
of Nemishaieve towards the Zhytomyr highway. We were trying to stop them.
We several times stopped this column from Bucha. On March 4, they moved
from the other side and nobody stopped them there. We counted 200 [vehicles].
People say the total was up to 400 [vehicles]. Tanks and BMDs. Armored
personnel carriers. All kinds of vehicles.
Inna Biletska: – Look, this is the Warsaw highway. Hostomel is in that
direction.
Pavlo Netosov, the head of International Search Organization “Citadel”:
Yeah, – I see.
Inna Biletska: – “Novus” [supermarket] is over there. And that is Chkalov
Street.
Pavlo Netosov, the head of International Search Organization “Citadel”: –
Ah! Wait a minute. I think I have it. Let me see. What is the number?
Alla Sadovnyk: – 715.
Pavlo Netosov, the head of International Search Organization “Citadel”: –
I told you I had seen it. We’ve found this BMD. Can you imagine that?
Inna Biletska: – This is “UTEM” [plant]. And here, in the park, these cars were
shot. The vehicles were coming from there. And one of them made a U-turn
here. That’s it. It all happened at the same time. Shooting and this vehicle in
Hrebinka Street. We allege (we do not state) that they were shot by this BMD.
We state it belonged to this military unit.
Therefore, on the morning of March 5, at about the same time as the killing of
the two families on Lech Kaczynski Street happened, the BMD-2 drove from
this street to the neighboring Hrebinka Street, separated from the column, and
lost the track. According to the identification marks on the photo and video, we
found out that this vehicle belonged to the 104 Guards Assault Red Flag of the
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Order of Kutuzov Regiment of the 76 Guards Assault Chernihiv Red Flag of

th

the Order of Suvorov Division.

The BMD belonged to one of the regiments, which first entered Bucha and
occupied the town.
The documents belonging to the 104 regiment were found on Vokzalna Street
th

in Bucha, where the Ukrainian army destroyed the enemy column on February
27.
There is evidence of the participation of Pskov paratroopers in the war in
eastern Ukraine since 2014 – prisoners-of-war, the dead, lost equipment. The
104 regiment took part in the annexation of Crimea. In Russia, the fallen
th

soldiers of the 104 regiment have been awarded for courage and heroism,
th

allegedly shown during what is called a “special operation in Ukraine”. There

were many such bloody special operations, in fact wars, on the account of the
Pskov paratroopers – Afghanistan, Transnistria, Chechnya, Georgia. The world
has not responded to the evidence of war crimes in these areas. The impunity of
Russia and its war criminals, for many years and in many conflicts started by it,
has ultimately led to the hundreds of civilian deaths in Bucha, a small town near
Kyiv where the elderly, women, civilian men and children were shot without
cause or warning. They [Russians] shot local residents and did not allow
burying their bodies for weeks.
Andrii Halavin, the dean of St. Andrew Church in Bucha: If I did something
bad to you, when would the question of forgiveness appear? If only I
apologized. You would then consider whether to forgive me or not. So far, no
one has apologized yet. I do not see any repentance from the Russian troops,
from the Russian authorities, from the Russian citizens. That is why it is
difficult to talk about forgiveness.
Oleksandr Chikmarov, Bucha resident: My leg was just torn off. It was not
an ordinary pistol or a machine-gun. It was a large-caliber one. It was not like in
fighting when someone can be shot accidentally. They were shooting at a
civilian car. They did not ask where we were going and why. They just started
shooting. They did not care a straw. They did not care. God is their judge. He
will punish them for all this.
Vitalii Chikmarov, Bucha resident: It’s good he survived. I tell him that he has
to live on. Yes, it is terrible. But he has to live. Mother and father are still alive,
so he has to live. The children wanted to have a dog, I brought the materials,
wanted to make an open-air cage. It will be easier for him if he has where to
come after the work. We need to draw his attention away from this [tragedy].
We’ll adopt a dog – it will be a little easier for him. We’ll find a prosthesis.
Oleh Doroshuk, Bucha resident: We hesitated whether to tell her that the
grandchildren were buried here. We said it to her only on the third or fourth
day. And she started coming here every morning, bringing some cookies or
pancakes – well, you know, as she had always cooked food for them every
morning, for her children and grandchildren.
Valentyna Chikmarova, Bucha resident: It seems that Rita had a feeling
something bad would happen. They were sitting on the sofa one evening and
she said, “Taras Shevchenko’s birthday is coming soon. Matvii should learn a
poem.” Then she started to recite The Testament [by Shevchenko],
“When I am dead, bury me
In my beloved Ukraine,
My tomb upon a grave mound high
Amid the spreading plain,
So that the fields, the boundless steppes,
The Dnieper's plunging shore
My eyes could see, my ears could hear
The mighty river roar…
Oh bury me, then rise ye up
And break your heavy chains
And water with the tyrants' blood
The freedom you have gained.”

The 104 airborne assault regiment suffered significant losses in Kyiv region.
th

After leaving Kyiv region, the paratroopers of the 104 regiment wereth

transferred to Donbas and Zaporizhzhia region. In mid-April, new reports began

to appear in Russian mass media and on social media about the soldiers of this
regiment killed in Ukraine.
On May 24, the 80 Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
th

in the east of the country destroyed a platoon of the 104 regiment of the 76
th th

Pskov Division. Among the dead was the commander of the 2 Assault nd
Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Dosyagaev. The remnants of the
platoon were withdrawn from Ukraine.

The Chikmarov family will appeal to the Hague tribunal for a war crime
committed on March 5 on Lech Kaczynski Street in Bucha.
Oleksandr Chikmarov has now a prosthesis sponsored by “Ukrenergo” National
Company.
This crime is being investigated by the Kyiv region office of the Security
Service of Ukraine under the procedural support of the Prosecutor General
Office of Ukraine.
As of June 3, 1,314 bodies of murdered civilians had been found in the de-
occupied parts of Kyiv region. Most of them were killed with small arms.
Russian war criminals must be punished for their war crimes.
Authors:
Inna Biletska
Alla Sadovnyk
Directors:
Vladyslav Vasylchenko
Oleksandr Stratonov
Camera crew:
Svitlana Koval
Pavlo Ilchuk
Taras Ibrahimov

Journalists:
Anna Kalaur
Mariia Horban
Editing, graphics, music:
Oleksandr Stratonov
Legal expertise:
Liudmyla Pankratova (RPDI)
Special thanks to:
Informnapalm
Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense
Iryna Levchenko
Khrystyna Havryliuk
Andrii Kharuk
Oleksandr Motornyi
The film used the video by:
Ihnat Lemish
Bucha.com.ua