7th April, 2022
German intelligence has intercepted radio exchanges between Russian soldiers who discussed killing Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, outside of Kyiv, the capital.
The intercepted conversation potentially levelled a powerful retort to widely dismissed Russian claims that massacres in Bucha and elsewhere were “staged.”
Local officials have said more than 300 people were killed by Russian forces in Bucha, 35 kilometres northwest of the capital Kyiv, and around 50 of them were executed.
Moscow has denied targeting civilians and said images of bodies in Bucha were staged by the Ukrainian government to justify more sanctions against it and derail peace negotiations.
However, the German information indicated that Russia’s Wagner Group, a mercenary firm tied to the Kremlin, may have been involved in the atrocities.
Some witnesses claimed Chechens were among them as well, Der Spiegel magazine reported.
German officials, who presented the intelligence to lawmakers in Berlin Wednesday, said the intercepts indicate that the murder of civilians in the town of Bucha was not an act by rogue forces.
The officials said the killings may have been part of a deliberate strategy to foment terror.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on the Thursday that the situation in the town of Borodyanka was “significantly more dreadful” than in nearby Bucha.
“The work to clear the rubble in Borodyanka has begun … It’s significantly more dreadful there. Even more victims from the Russian occupiers,” Zelenskiy said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging service.
The town is about 25 km from Bucha.
He did not provide any further detail or evidence that Russia was responsible for civilian deaths in the town.
The killing of civilians in the town of Bucha have been widely condemned by the West as war crimes, building pressure for stricter sanctions against Russia.
“And what will happen when the world learns the whole truth about what the Russian military did in Mariupol?” Zelenskiy asked.
“There, on almost every street, is what the world saw in Bucha and other towns in the Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian troops.”