Bucha: Bodies tied up, shot and left to rot hint at gruesome reality of Russia’s

In recent days, Moscow has claimed — without evidence — that the atrocities in Bucha were staged — calling it “fake,” and part of a “planned media campaign.”

But witnesses who spoke to CNN said the carnage in the town began weeks ago.

There have also been reports of looting, disappearances, and evidence of the indiscriminate killings of civilians since the war began.

Horrors on the road

Bucha — once a magnet for young families due to its affordable homes, green spaces, and good schools — and other areas nearby, turned into a living nightmare in March as Russian troops stormed the region.

Residents there share difficult to verify stories of looted homes, senseless murders and failed escapes via Kyiv’s Zhytomyr highway — now a graveyard for wrecked tanks and burned-out cars.

In Bucha, pitch-roofed homes crumbled under the force of Russian artillery strikes.

Residents say they had no choice but to turn their vegetable patches and front yards into makeshift graves, since the presence of Russian forces made it impossible to reach the morgue or local cemetery.

Anna Bilous, 48, had lived in Bucha for eight years before the Russian troops arrived. She sheltered in her home with her husband and two sons, but around March 4, when the electricity cut out and the pipes ran dry, it became clear they had to leave, she told CNN.

They decided that Bilous and her two sons would flee on foot, heading for the nearby suburb of Irpin on March 9, while her husband stayed behind to care for the family’s elderly neighbors.

The trio traveled on side roads to avoid the Russian soldiers, but when they turned onto Yablunska Street, the family was stunned to find dead bodies scattered across the road — including one lifeless man collapsed under a bicycle.

Bilous believes the man’s body remained there for close to a month, until he and some 20 other civilians were photographed for the world to see this past weekend.

Bucha’s mayor has described their deaths as an execution.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov continued to deny the accusations of brutal civilian killings in Bucha, saying the claims are not only “groundless, but are a well-staged tragic show” and “a forgery in order to try to denigrate the Russian army.”

Reports of executions

About a mile away, at a sanatorium in Vokzal’na Street on Monday, Ukrainian officials ushered journalists into a cold basement where the contorted and bloodied bodies of five men lay in an advanced state of decay.

Some of those in this dimly-lit space had been kneecapped. Others, their arms bound behind their backs, had been shot multiple times. Bullet casings littered the ground.

Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the Ukrainian interior minister, said it was a cruel display of torture and execution by Russian soldiers. CNN cannot independently verify his claim.

The men were killed sometime in the last three weeks, officials say. Their bodies are as yet unidentified, since no personal documents have been found.

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense has denied anyone was harmed.

“Taking into account that the troops left the city on March 30, where was the footage for four days? Their absence only confirms the fake.”

Officials say Russian forces bedded down in the sanatorium around the second week of March. Several foxholes, trenches, and positions for armored vehicles remain visible around the site; leftover Russian rations have been abandoned nearby.

The gruesome scene proved too much for Vladislav Minchenko, who vomited after volunteering to help remove the bodies from the basement on Monday.

Hasty burials in mass grave

Shelling, live fire,…