Ukraine’s hunt for the Butchers of Bucha may have reached a dramatic turning point. In a devastating drone strike, Ukrainian forces targeted Russia’s notorious 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade—the unit accused of some of the worst atrocities of the war. We break down the strike, the growing reach of Ukraine’s medium-range drone campaign, and the long shadow of Bucha’s war crimes. Is this justice, revenge, or a warning that no perpetrator is beyond Ukraine’s reach?
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NewsTranscript
00:00When they rolled into Butcher, they set the stage for the terror that was to define the
00:04Ukraine war. The soldiers who became known as the Butchers of Butcher ran rampant,
00:09murdering civilians and proving that Russia had no intention of following the rules of engagement.
00:15War crimes started early, and Ukraine vowed revenge. Now that revenge has come.
00:22Russia's Butchers of Butcher just got butchered themselves. Ukraine has delivered some long
00:27awaited justice after years of waiting. These are historic kills. Butchers have been eradicated,
00:34and now Ukraine may have its sights set on an even bigger target as it continues its campaign to
00:40bring the beasts who massacred so many in Butcher to justice. On May 30th, the commander of Ukraine's
00:47unmanned systems forces, the notorious Robert Brovdy, reported that Ukraine had pulled off
00:52an amazing strike against the training grounds and military camps used by both Russia's third
00:57and 36th Combined Arms Armies. The overnight drone operation, which happened just hours before
01:03Brovdy's revelation, was yet another example of how the medium-range campaign that Ukraine has
01:08launched in 2026 is proving more effective than Putin ever thought possible. But the real headline
01:14from the strike would have sent shockwaves of joy rippling through any Ukrainians who remember the
01:19horrors that Putin's forces unleashed during the early weeks of the invasion. It wasn't just training
01:24grounds that Ukraine hit on May 30th. The positions of Russia's 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade were
01:30also struck. For those who don't know, this is the very brigade that entered Butcher and committed
01:35atrocity after atrocity against Ukraine's civilians. And Brovdy had plenty to say about the people whom
01:41he, and so many of his country people, consider to be among the most irredeemable within Russia's ranks.
01:46The lowest of the low, the 64th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade of the 35th Army, which ran riot in Butcher
01:53in 2022, was hit, Brovdy roared. As for how, Pravda has the details. The outlet says that Ukraine unleashed
02:00the 414th Magyar's Birds Separate Brigade on the Butchers, which is a unit that bears Brovdy's call
02:06sign. That unit teamed up with the 413th Raid Separate Regiment to utterly ruin the Butchers of Butcher.
02:13The two units coordinated their assault via the newly created Deep Strike Center of the Unmanned
02:18Systems Forces, which Ukraine created back in April to help it organize the increasingly intense
02:23medium-range strike campaign that it's waging against Russia. The idea is to ensure a systematic
02:29approach is taken to these types of strikes, while also ensuring that different units can
02:33cooperate to cause maximum damage when a target is identified. That's precisely what happened during
02:38the night of May 29th and into the early hours of May 30th. Ukraine's collaborating units managed
02:44to score a total of 21 confirmed hits against Russian targets during a night of strikes that
02:49devastated Russia's occupiers. But the highlight of the night was the attack against the Butchers,
02:54and there can be no doubt that Ukraine did precisely what it claimed to have done.
02:59How do we know? Well, there's footage that shows us everything. Published on Facebook by Brovdy himself,
03:03the video is made up of clips shot by drones as they zero in on what the Unmanned Systems Forces
03:08commander calls the Lair of the 64th Worm Brigade. Several times over, we see the same thing.
03:14A drone homes in on its target, then it scores a direct hit. With each drone that follows,
03:19we see the results of those that came before. Massive fires have erupted all over the target
03:24areas, sending plumes of smoke into the skies. Ukraine's drones navigate the flames to find targets
03:29that aren't yet burning, and they make sure that changes. Hit after hit is recorded. Ukraine's
03:35drones created an inescapable inferno. Frankly, there can be no better justice delivered to the
03:41Butchers of Butcher. They reveled in the horrors they created. Now they've been burned to ashes by
03:47flames so hot that they must have felt like hell. Ukraine is still investigating all of the footage
03:53that its drones captured to determine just how much damage they did to the Butchers of Butcher and
03:57the training grounds that we mentioned earlier. Some of the early figures are in. So far,
04:01Ukraine has confirmed 31 personnel casualties among Russia's 64th Brigade. Nine of the Butchers of
04:07Butcher are dead. Another nine have been injured, though we don't know how severely. As for the other
04:1213 Butchers, their whereabouts are currently unknown. But there is more footage to watch,
04:17more revenge to report. It seems likely that many of the 13, and perhaps more besides, are also dead.
04:23Brovdy certainly thinks so. Most likely, these figures are significantly underestimated,
04:28Brovdy reports. That will certainly be the case, as Ukraine hasn't released casualty figures for its
04:33strikes against the pair of training sites we mentioned earlier in the video. However,
04:36Brovdy seems to also be implying that yet more of the Butchers burn. That wouldn't be a surprise.
04:41Of the 21 strikes that Ukraine carried out on May 30, eight specifically targeted the
04:46Worms Lair. The fires don't lie. Any soldiers who were still in that
04:51layer when Ukraine struck, would almost certainly be casualties.
04:55There were also the other strikes we mentioned. Ukraine's attack against Russia's Third Army
04:59saw it hit the Luhansk-based Triokizbenka training ground, which is about 70 km from the front lines,
05:05Pravda reports. The 36th Army training ground, which is the one that was being used by the Butchers of
05:10Butcher, is in occupied Zaporizhia and is about 100 km away from the front lines. Ukraine also struck a gas
05:16storage facility in the town of Yenikyeva, in occupied Donetsk. And to cap it all off,
05:21Ukraine also struck Russian logistics in both Donetsk and Luhansk, demonstrating how Ukraine
05:26will still always focus on weakening Russia's military, even when it has revenge on its collective
05:30mind. This is Ukraine's middle strike campaign in action, and it's a campaign that's been wreaking
05:35havoc on Russia's occupiers. The Ukraine war has entered a new phase since the introduction of
05:41medium-range drones into Ukraine's arsenal. In the past few years, Ukraine's drones have
05:46operated at limited tactical depth. Sure, it had long-range drones capable of penetrating
05:51hundreds of kilometers into Russia, but those drones weren't typically used in the occupied
05:55territories. They were too valuable for that, as the damage they could do to the war machine inside
05:59Russia, including the country's oil refineries and industrial targets, outweighed the benefit that
06:05would have come from unleashing them on the near-rear. Beyond that, Ukraine had FPV drones that
06:09typically operated in the range of 10 to 25 kilometers. In 2026, all of that has changed.
06:15Now Ukraine has drones that are cost-effective and can strike targets in the range of 30 to
06:20around 200 kilometers from the front lines. That opens up a host of new targets, from Russian command
06:25centers controlling assaults on the front to logistical infrastructure and, as we saw on May 30th,
06:31troop gatherings. UNN says that new medium drones are allowing Ukraine to build a new kill zone,
06:36stretching deeper than anything that has been created before. The Butchers of Butcher just
06:41found themselves within one of those kill zones. As devastating as the loss of some of his favorite
06:46war criminals will be to Putin, he will be far more worried about what Ukraine pulling off this
06:50strike means for his troops psychologically. The Butchers of Butcher were deep behind the front
06:55lines in Zaporizhia. They were supposed to be safe, as is the case for all of the soldiers that
07:00Russia stations behind the front. Safety is no longer guaranteed. Every soldier within 200 kilometers
07:07of the front lines now knows that the intense inferno that just claimed the lives of at least
07:11nine of the Butchers of Butcher could be coming for them at any time. They won't know when it's coming.
07:17Their air defenses won't be able to stop it. No matter where Putin's patsies are in the occupied territories,
07:23they'll know that Ukraine can hit them. That's the sort of terror that is unique to the Ukraine war.
07:28The Butchers of Butcher deserve that terror and so much more. When they rampaged through the
07:33settlement from which they take their name, they inflicted horrors unlike anything that should be
07:37seen in modern war. Those horrors are what make the May 30th revenge strike conducted by Ukraine so
07:42important. Ukraine waited, it searched, and once it found the Butchers, it delivered justice.
07:47But justice for what exactly? We've implied what the Butchers of Butcher did to deserve their fate
07:53a few times, but we're about to reveal just how horrific their actions truly were. But before we
07:58do, this is a quick reminder that you are watching The Military Show. If you haven't subscribed yet,
08:02now is the perfect time to hit that button so you can see more videos like this one.
08:07On March 4th, 2022, the Russian forces that were attempting to push into Kyiv during the initial
08:13weeks of Putin's supposed special military operation arrived in the town of Butcher.
08:18Strategically, that town would have been significant if the invasion had gone to Russia's plan.
08:23Located about 30 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, Butcher would have potentially provided Russia's
08:28forces with a route into Ukraine's capital. Between March 4th and March 31st, 2022, Butcher was
08:34occupied. Then, in early April 2022, the Russian soldiers withdrew as Ukraine pushed Russia's initial
08:41invading force back. It was in April that the horrors that the Butchers of Butcher carried out
08:46truly came to light. Human Rights Watch researchers spent a week in the town detailing their findings.
08:52Extensive evidence of the unlawful summary execution of dozens of civilians was discovered,
08:57as was evidence of torture and forced disappearances and other war crimes.
09:01Nearly every corner in Butcher is now a crime scene, and it felt like death was everywhere.
09:07The evidence indicates that Russian forces occupying Butcher showed contempt and disregard
09:11for civilian life and the most fundamental principles of the laws of war, Richard Weir,
09:16who is one of those researchers, said at the time.
09:18It wasn't long after that that the numbers revealed the true scale of the Butcher's work.
09:23Ruslan Kravchenko, who is the chief regional prosecutor in Butcher, told Human Rights Watch that 278
09:29bodies had been discovered in his town following the withdrawal of Russia's forces.
09:33Very few of those bodies belonged to soldiers. Most of the dead were civilians, and Kravchenko
09:39expected that more would be found following his April 15 revelation. Later reports, including one
09:44from PBS Frontline, revealed that Russia had tried to conduct what the outlet described as a
09:48cleansing operation in the town. Many of those who died were in lists prepared by the Russian
09:54intelligence services. Volunteer fighters and anybody suspected of helping Ukraine's soldiers were
09:59targets. The butchers of Butcher went door to door, asking questions. If anybody failed to pass the
10:04test, they were dragged away for torture and in many cases, execution. This wasn't the case of a
10:10military unit losing itself in war. It was calculated, planned. A systematic eradication of people that
10:17Russia thought, though often didn't know, were threats.
10:20The street of Yablunska was the site of so much of the horror in Butcher. By the end of Russia's
10:25rampage, almost 40 bodies had been piled up on that street alone, with many of the dead having
10:30faced horrific interrogation at a nondescript office building on the street. Years later,
10:35in June 2025, footage emerged showing how the butchers of Butcher targeted their victims.
10:41Published by Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, the video shows Russian soldiers marauding through the
10:45streets. We see rifles pointed at civilians, people being marched away with their hands around the
10:50backs of their heads. Russian soldiers kick out at those being guided away. We don't see the worst of
10:55what Russia did. But we see enough. Butcher became a monument to the evil that Putin wished to inflict
11:01on Ukraine, and naturally there was an outcry. By the end of April 2022, Ukrainian prosecutors had
11:06already filed the first charges against Russia over the massacre in Butcher. Ten of Russia's soldiers
11:11were accused of crimes including looting, torture, and murder. All were members of the 64th Separate
11:17Motorized Rifle Brigade that had an up-close and personal meeting with Ukraine's drones on May 30th.
11:23Many more charges would follow, and in some cases, Russian soldiers involved in the butchery developed
11:27something resembling a conscience to the point where they admitted their crimes. One soldier named Nikolay
11:32Katashev was interviewed by Ukrainian authorities. I was ordered to, he said, when asked why he had shot
11:38a civilian. Everyone in black was considered an enemy. If we saw a man in black, we opened fire.
11:43There may have been a list of people that Russia wanted to eliminate, but this confession alone
11:48tells of a unit that was ordered to kill anybody who fit the vaguest of descriptions.
11:53Katashev may have been caught, but he was one of the few. According to reporting, investigators in
11:58Butcher had identified around 8,000 suspected war crime cases arising from the month that Russia spent
12:03in the city by the end of April 2022. Many were members of the 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade,
12:09but Ukraine knew that it had little chance of bringing those soldiers to justice in a traditional
12:14fashion. Putin had no intention of punishing his soldiers. Several were awarded medals for their
12:20actions as Putin praised the 64th for its heroism and courage. There is still very little prospect of
12:26bringing the majority of the butchers of Butcher to trial. Ukraine knows who it's looking for. It has
12:32published pictures and names of many of those who committed the vicious crimes in Butcher. However,
12:36Russia protects its war criminals, all the way up to Putin himself. And up until recently, that protection
12:41came in the form of keeping those criminals deep enough behind the front lines that they couldn't be
12:46struck by Ukraine's drones. May 30th changed everything for the butchers of Butcher. Now these
12:52torturers and murderers know that they can never be safe from Ukraine's wrath, no matter where they
12:57might be hiding. If justice can't be doled out through the courts, Ukraine has decided to take matters into
13:02its own hands. And though May 30th may represent one of the most impressive strikes against the
13:07butchers of Butcher yet seen, it isn't the only one. Slowly but surely, Ukraine is working on
13:12delivering the vengeance that all of those who were involved in the massacre at Butcher have earned.
13:17Ukraine's past strikes have been much smaller in scale than we saw on May 30th, though they have
13:22been effective, both in terms of eliminating butchers and sending messages to those who have survived.
13:27Toward the end of August 2025, Ukraine took out three of the butchers of Butcher when it attacked six
13:32Russian soldiers who were trying to shelter themselves in occupied Luhansk. Three of the
13:36soldiers were killed in the attack and all six were identified as being involved in the war crimes
13:41committed in Butcher over three years prior. The attack was more akin to an assassination than a
13:46strike. A detonation in the parking lot of the building where the six were hiding is what killed
13:51three of them, suggesting an element of sabotage behind enemy lines had taken place. Fast forward to
13:56the end of April and Ukraine conducted another assassination attempt, this time a bomb planted in the
14:01Khabarovsk region of Russia killed one and injured seven. The few details that have emerged from the
14:07attack suggest that it was carried out inside a closed military barracks, meaning Ukraine had
14:11somebody working on the inside, and that the man killed was somebody who had the rank of Lieutenant
14:15Colonel. However, the dead man wasn't the true target. CNN reports that Russian military bloggers
14:21believe that Ukraine's intended target was Major General Azatbek Amorbukov. He was in command of the
14:2664th when it committed its atrocities in Butcher. Amorbukov got lucky. The bomb intended to take his
14:32life appears to have killed one of his subordinates, but now he's on notice. Ukraine knows who he is and
14:38where he goes. Whether it's a bomb or a long-range drone, Ukraine intends to take Amorbukov out.
14:43But for now, Ukraine will be happy to make do with at least 31 casualties among the brigade that Amorbukov
14:49led.
14:50One by one, the Butchers of Butcher are being held to account for their crimes,
14:54and there is one more who will be in Ukraine's sights. On May 8, Eurasia Review reported on some
15:00changes that have taken place in the Russian military high command. The head of the Russian
15:05Aerospace Forces, General Viktor Avzalov, is no more. He has been fired and replaced by a
15:10career ground forces officer named Colonel General Alexander Chaiko. You may be able to guess where
15:15this is going. Chaiko is one of the men who is responsible for the massacre in Butcher,
15:19and he commanded Russia's eastern military district at the time that it happened.
15:23Ukraine had already indicted Chaiko, and the European Union has imposed sanctions against
15:28him for his role in what happened in Butcher. Now, Putin has rewarded Chaiko with a position
15:32for which he is in no way suited. And in doing so, he has put a target on another Butcher's
15:37head.
15:38Chaiko may be the next target as Ukraine systematically dismantles the unit responsible
15:42for what happened in Butcher. Or he may not. That's the true trick. Ukraine has proven that it can
15:48take out Butchers with drones and sabotage operations. Now, the remaining members of the 64th,
15:53who killed and tortured in Butcher, will all be asking themselves the same question.
15:57Am I next? They won't get their answers until Ukraine is prepared to unleash its brand of fiery
16:03justice once more on the Butchers of Butcher. Revenge will wait for the rest of the Butchers.
16:08But as Ukraine shatters a unit that committed war crimes by the thousands, it's also taking
16:12revenge in other ways. A brutal Russian missile assault left 24 dead in Kyiv earlier this year.
16:18Ukraine didn't let that stand. Russia erupted in giant fireballs as a massive long-range drone
16:23assault by Ukraine struck multiple regions. The Russian war machine suffered a crippling blow,
16:28and you can find out all about it if you watch our video. And if you enjoyed this video, remember
16:33to
16:33subscribe to The Military Show to see more of our coverage of Ukraine's devastating attacks
16:38attacks against Russia. And thank you for watching.
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