With bloodied gloves, forensic teams uncover gruesome secrets of Bucha in Ukraine

  • 📰 GuardianAus
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 77 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 34%
  • Publisher: 98%

Australia Headlines News

Australia Latest News,Australia Headlines

While investigators uncover the remains of civilians, heartbroken families wait nearby to reclaim their loved ones

ometimes the dead have more to say than the living. Those lying beneath the soft, yellow earth in the grounds of the church of Andrew the Apostle, in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, have many terrible stories to tell.

As each new cadaver was laid in front of him, the lead investigator knelt over it and softly murmured an inventory while a colleague wrote it down: leather jacket, mobile phone, no ID. He checked inside decaying mouths, the range of motion of broken limbs, and documented burns, bullet wounds and injuries caused by shrapnel, before volunteers from the town helped put each corpse into a fresh body bag.

“We had to beg the Russians to let us bury them. They told us it was still cold, so it didn’t matter, they could lie there. But the dogs were starting to eat them. In the end we convinced them it was a sanitary issue and they let us dig the grave at the church of Andrew the Apostle since it was near both their military position and the morgue and hospital.

Kukharenko Vyacheslav, a large man of 47 with a soft voice and bright blue eyes, spent most of the day crying quietly next to the grave. He was not looking for a loved one. He felt guilty, he said, tortured by what he described as his own “cowardice” in the face of the invasion, and felt the need to bear witness.

Haylena Fiaktistava, 70, was among those hoping to find answers in the mass grave. She spent the occupation sheltering at home with her two sons, Dmitro and Andrei, but one day Dmitro left the house to try and find bread, and never came back. During a respite in the shelling three days later, Haylena and Andrei went out and found him lying face down in the middle of the road a few streets away, bullet holes in his back.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 1. in AU

Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Zelenskiy says Borodyanka ‘much worse’ than Bucha; Johnson to meet Scholz – liveUkrainian president foreshadows discovery of more atrocities near Kyiv; British PM and German chancellor to discuss weaning Europe off gas Language matters. Please stop referring to russian aggression as a Russia-Ukraine war. Ukraine is not, has not, invaded russia.
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »

Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Zelenskiy says Borodyanka ‘much worse’ than Bucha; Johnson to meet Scholz – liveUkrainian president foreshadows discovery of more atrocities near Kyiv; British PM and German chancellor to discuss weaning Europe off gas Language matters. Please stop referring to russian aggression as a Russia-Ukraine war. Ukraine is not, has not, invaded russia.
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »

Russia-Ukraine war: catch up on this week’s must-read news and analysisOn the ground in the devastated Bucha and Trostianets; when rape is used as a weapon; and will Putin face a war crimes tribunal? war porn ,
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »

Russia accused of ‘monstrous’ war crime in Kramatorsk station attackVolodymyr Zelenskiy likens missile strike to Bucha atrocities after dozens die at train station where civilians were being evacuated to safety Guardian accuses!! UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter is adamant the Ukrainians fired the missile. He uses forensics. But commonsense should be enough. East Ukraine is full of ethnic Russians who Russia came to save from Ukrainian bombings. The refugees were ethnic Russian. Mmmm When I lost my job, I thought I have lost it all. With the little cash of $2000 I got $18,300 within a week trade, she may not know but really she have save me Nelly_wa_Macha
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »

AFL teams: All the ins and outs for round fourThe teams for the AFL matches in round four. Geelong rest Joel Selwood - who comes in? agerealfooty afl afl202
Source: theage - 🏆 8. / 77 Read more »

The UK may try to flex military muscles, but has it got what it takes?Analysis: Ukraine shows militarising foreign policy has come to define Boris Johnson’s premiership here are my naked photos
Source: GuardianAus - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »