Ukraine names 10 Russian soldiers it says committed Bucha atrocities

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities have published the names and photos of 10 Russian soldiers whom they accuse of kidnapping and torturing unarmed civilians in Bucha, the most detailed accusation yet against Russian forces in Ukraine.

Bucha, a suburb north of Kyiv, was the site of some of the war’s worst atrocities. The bodies of hundreds of civilians were found there after Russian troops pulled out of the area in late March. Many victims had been shot in the back of the head, and others had been executed with their hands tied behind their backs. Ukrainian officials said women had been raped and children killed.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said in a statement Thursday that the 10 named Russian soldiers took civilians hostage, “killed them with hunger and thirst, kept them on their knees with their hands tied and their eyes taped” and “humiliated and beat” them. The statement, which was posted on social media, included photos of the soldiers identified.

“We know all the details about them and their actions,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an overnight address. “And we will find everyone, just as we will find all the other Russian thugs who killed and tortured Ukrainians, who tormented our people, who destroyed houses and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.”

Russian officials have denied that their troops committed any crimes in Bucha, calling the images and witness accounts fake. But dozens of witnesses, along with independent human rights investigators, have said the occupying Russian forces did just that.

In a recent Human Rights Watch report, the advocacy group said that “Russian forces committed a litany of apparent war crimes during their occupation of Bucha” and that there was “extensive evidence of summary executions, other unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, and torture, all of which would constitute war crimes and potential crimes against humanity.”

Ukrainian authorities identified Russia’s 64th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade as the unit responsible for some of these atrocities and said their involvement had been “established through investigative and coordinated work of prosecutors and police officers.” The soldiers included four privates, four corporals and two sergeants, Ukrainian officials said.

This case is the fruit of an investigation that involved hundreds of Ukrainian lawyers and police officers combing Bucha’s ruined streets, interviewing witnesses and collecting forensic evidence from bodies and crime scenes for the past month.