- 7 months ago
Crime Scene: Bucha: CCTV footage, intercepted phone calls, and 3D modeling trace the Russian-led massacre in Bucha.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
04:16That's the equipment
04:17here.
04:23The largest concentration of bodies, nearly 40, was recovered along Yablunska Street,
04:30which runs east to west in an industrial section of town.
04:36We met with survivors along Yablunska Street and beyond.
04:46Natalia Blasenko and her family lived just off Yablunska Street.
04:50In early March, her 20-year-old grandson, Dima Chapulehin, a store clerk,
04:56filmed the Russians arriving from this second-floor terrace.
05:09Dima wasn't the only one recording.
05:14One private home on Yablunska Street was outfitted with six security cameras.
05:20In the footage that we obtained from March 3rd, Ukrainian soldiers tried to hold off the Russian advance before retreating.
05:31Soon after, dozens of Russian troops and vehicles marked with the letter V take over the street and continue to pour in.
05:38By March 4th, the occupation of Bucha was nearly complete.
05:46That's when the Russians came for Dima.
05:48I asked for them to stop him. They went with us.
05:54I took him.
05:57I held him.
05:58I prayed.
05:59I fell down.
06:00I fell down.
06:01He fell down.
06:02I fell down.
06:03I fell down.
06:04I asked for a while.
06:05I stood by one.
06:06He said,
06:08If he does not give it well,
06:11the result will be worse.
06:14And he began to go from the window and then he ran out.
06:17And to see that they let the parents劲 stand in.
06:18They didn't hit me.
06:23He was so happy and said,
06:25Dad, don't worry, I'll come.
06:30Dima was rounded up as part of a Russian operation
06:33known as зачistka, or cleansing.
06:37Soldiers searched and interrogated everyone in the area
06:40to root out threats and terrorize locals into submission.
06:44The CCTV footage offers a rare view of the Russian sweeps
06:48as they unfolded.
06:50Some people were escorted with their belongings,
06:53even pets.
06:55Others were taken by force,
06:57including this man, who was gagged and pleading.
07:07Russian soldiers brought people to their base
07:09at 144 Yablunska.
07:11The building had been used as a bomb shelter
07:15before Russians took it over as their headquarters
07:17and base for interrogations.
07:21They also set up a field hospital
07:23and held civilians who didn't pose a threat in the basement.
07:28As the Russian sweeps continued,
07:30CCTV cameras also captured these nine men,
07:33including taxi driver Ivan Skiba,
07:36being led to 144 at gunpoint.
07:38They said,
07:42They allowed us to go up and take one hand in one hand and put the other hand in the back and look at the ground.
08:01And they led us to Yablinsko 144.
08:06When the Russians invaded, Ivan said that he and other volunteers had been manning one of three checkpoints set up along this stretch of Yablonsko.
08:15As troops advanced, volunteers from the other checkpoints escaped.
08:20Ivan and his group hid in this nearby house before they were captured.
08:26These are two different CCTV cameras, both of which are across the street from 144 Yablonsko.
08:37So we have two different angles on Ivan and the other guys being marched across the street.
08:42So the Russians are shouting at them, to the right, to the right, dumbass.
08:48Where are you going? To the right.
08:51And there they go, off to the right, to 144 Yablonsko.
08:56They took us right to the wall right there, there was a mouth and was afraid.
09:08But then they took us and pushed out my legs with their nose and asked questions.
09:15And the question was, who are they, why are they hiding there?
09:22Then it happened to me, that I will let you talk about it.
09:29They take VÃtalÃka, Karpénka, and shoot him in the middle.
09:34I saw him, as he fell, and he was standing there with blood,
09:40and he shot him in his head.
09:45Then one of the boys began to talk about it.
09:57He was taken care of his life.
10:01He began to talk about it, that we were standing on the post,
10:06that we were in Starobarone.
10:10And they began to talk about it.
10:15They wanted to kill us, they wanted to kill us,
10:19and now we are here alive.
10:20So these conversations began.
10:24Then I went to the building.
10:36They went to the building.
10:38And it was the hardest thing, and I went to the building,
10:40and continued to make our head.
10:41And they got transferred back to the building.
10:45They were all in the building.
10:47They got transferred back to the building.
10:50I lost my knowledge once in two or three.
10:54They were pulling me up,
10:56and started to continue to go.
10:59I went to the Russian,
11:02and said,
11:04let me go.
11:10There, where I was,
11:14where I was at first under the nose.
11:20Before the exit they took me out of my head, and then I started to see what happened on the street.
11:32I saw VÃtalÃka Carpénka, and there were three people from ours, who brought them from the 31st house.
11:47I put my head on my feet, and I put my head on my nose, because my hands were connected with my back, and my head on my nose.
12:02I heard a conversation about what they did with them.
12:06The second one said, yes, I want to destroy them.
12:13They said, just leave them here, so they didn't leave.
12:17Then they took me out of my head and took me out of my house.
12:36When we went through the corner, there was already a body of a man, who was killed.
12:49He was connected with his hands, but he was in his arms.
12:53They told us to stop.
13:08They were in the corner, and they started to shoot.
13:18I saw VÃtalÃka, and I felt like VÃtalÃka was in the corner.
13:23I felt like the gun was in the corner.
13:27I just fell, I was in the corner, and I didn't move.
13:30I thought, I was already dead.
13:33I was in the corner of my head.
13:36They went and killed.
13:38So I didn't move.
13:40I was waiting for a shot.
13:41I was waiting for a shot.
13:42I was waiting for a shot in my head.
13:45I didn't move, I didn't breathe, I didn't breathe.
13:50I was waiting for a couple of shots, so they didn't see that I was still alive.
13:55I just fell, I didn't move.
13:58Ivan said he waited for his moment.
14:04Despite a head injury and gunshot to the abdomen, he managed to escape to this nearby house.
14:11Within an hour, more Russian soldiers sweeping the area found him.
14:15This time, they believed he was an injured civilian and brought him back to 144,
14:21not to be tortured or killed, but to give him medical treatment.
14:25But his death was a risk.
14:28Then, the front of the officers did to the hospital.
14:30They ran the teeth and Word showed up.
14:32They washed off and moved to the hospital.
14:34They linked the bladder, they struck him, they gave him.
14:37They put him to the hospital and put them in the bunker,
14:41to that place where murder was killed.
14:46And it was shot at the hospital.
14:49On March 7th, Ivan and the civilians sheltering in the basement were finally released.
14:54The bodies of the men executed in the courtyard outside
14:58still lay on the ground, where they would remain for weeks.
15:05That same day, after hearing that civilians were being let out,
15:09Natalia Vlasenko set out to 144 Yablunska
15:12to find her grandson Dima.
15:24Maybe he'll be killed, maybe he'll be dead, I'll be alive.
15:33But Dima was not among the civilians released.
15:36Natalia would have to wait.
15:41The violence spread far beyond Yablunska Street.
15:44When the occupation of Bucha turned from days to weeks,
15:48troops unable to reach Kyiv faced mounting losses,
15:52and they became more erratic and unpredictable.
16:08In phone calls intercepted by the Ukrainian government
16:11that we verified with the help of the Dossier Center in London,
16:14Russian soldiers admitted to killing civilians.
16:18They also took over people's homes.
16:21With you, Nアワジ, I, I'm about to wait.
16:25Thin' me is going to효ge,
16:26I've been saying,
16:27I'm useless.
16:29How important is that they will be heard?
16:30What should they say to us?
16:31What should they say to us?
16:33They are opened, they said,
16:37don't go out,
16:41because they are killing us.
16:42Put the blood of
16:43open, they were killed.
16:44They also took over people's homes.
16:48Security cameras from inside this residence on Jablonska Street
16:52show soldiers playing with the lights, doing laundry,
16:56even chasing a dog. They eventually discover
17:00the cameras and shoot them out.
17:04Outside, on the streets and fields of
17:08Buccia, more bodies started to appear.
17:12Those who were not able to flee hid inside their houses,
17:16including Natalia Vlasenko and her husband, Pavlo.
17:20They stayed behind trying to find out what happened to their grandson, Dima.
17:26Near the end of March, Natalia said Russian troops returned to their house.
17:36They began interrogating her husband, Pavlo,
17:40after discovering their son's military cap in a closet.
17:44He was military.
17:48So Kyiv protects him.
17:50They probably killed him.
17:52Because he said, yes, yes, he protects Kyiv.
17:56Yes, he protects Kyiv.
18:00And then quiet.
18:04He went to the house, went to the street,
18:06and went to the street here, like no one had to go.
18:10And then his neighbor came and said,
18:14And then he said,
18:16I found your father, Pashun.
18:18But don't go there,
18:20because it's scary to look at it.
18:22Even if it's scary to look at it.
18:24I ran away.
18:26I ran away from the house.
18:28I ran away from the house.
18:30I ran away from the house.
18:32My head was also there.
18:36God, I started to go there.
18:38And then I was crying.
18:40I cried.
18:42I cried.
18:44I cried.
18:46I cried.
18:48I cried.
18:50I cried.
18:52I cried.
18:54I cried.
19:00By the end of the month,
19:02Russian forces gave up on their attack on Kyiv
19:04and pulled out of Bucha.
19:06Day by day,
19:10people found more bodies
19:12of their friends,
19:14families and neighbors.
19:28Soon after Natalia buried her husband,
19:30Dima's body was discovered on the grounds
19:32of 144 Yablunska Street.
19:36Day by day,
19:37the family was discovered
19:38that she was a Christian.
19:40Oh, my God!
19:41Oh, my God!
19:44We'd just have to stay with you.
19:45Oh, my God!
19:47Oh, my God!
19:48Oh, my God!
19:49I wish I could live.
19:51I wish I could live.
19:54I could live.
19:56I could live.
19:59Dima was just one
20:00of the hundreds of bodies
20:01found throughout Bucha.
20:03The full scale of the horrors,
20:05On the scale of the horrors, more than 450 deaths wouldn't be known for months.
20:25What happened along Yablunska Street is now case number one for Ukraine's war crimes prosecutors.
20:31Tara Semkye from the Prosecutor General's Office is in charge of the case.
21:01They carried out the officers of the Russian army, to which, accordingly, they carried out.
21:16This were people who found out in nearby buildings near the area of Yablunska 44.
21:24They were usually buried in the walls of these buildings, which they found.
21:31The hands of these people were tied.
21:35They were deprived of any possibility of doing a fight against them.
21:41So the fact that this is just a loss is obvious.
21:46What do you think the odds are of you getting any of the people responsible for the atrocities at 144 Yablunska into an actual court of law and prosecuting them in a court?
22:00I will do everything to do so that it will end up with a certain court court.
22:05I believe that our chances are quite large.
22:10Because there is a significant amount of material.
22:14And we qualify for this as a military crime, as a violation of the laws and zwycius of war.
22:20Cemkiv said that those responsible for what happened to Yvonne, Dima and the others on March 4 were from Russia's 76 Guards Airborne Assault Division.
22:39We installed commanders of these forces, and we installed a significant number of people who lived in Buche, in particular on Yablonsk, at that time.
22:52Those commanders are Major General Sergei Chubarykin and his boss, Colonel General Alexander Chayko.
23:01Ukrainian prosecutors are pursuing the generals for their roles in leading the invasion of Ukraine.
23:07But they are still gathering evidence that could link them to specific crimes, like 144 Yablonska.
23:20The International Criminal Court in The Hague is also investigating potential war crimes cases.
23:30Buche was a turning point when the world called for accountability.
23:35But with the war in Ukraine still raging, it is too early to say who will be held accountable for what happened in Buche and beyond.
23:48The International Criminal Court
23:54The International Criminal Court
23:59The International Criminal Court
24:13For more on this and other Frontline programs,
24:24visit our website at pbs.org slash frontline.
24:43Frontline's Crime Scene Bucha and After Zero Tolerance are available on Amazon Prime Video.
Be the first to comment