Graphic Warning
DENS OF HELL
Inside horrifying ‘torture chambers’ set up by Russian troops to ‘abuse and murder civilians’ in Bucha
RUSSIAN troops based in Bucha allegedly set up torture chambers where the executed bodies of Ukrainian civilians were found, reports have claimed.
The bodies were discovered shot in the back of the head execution-style in the basement of a building being used by the Russian army.
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Horror video shared by the Ukrainian military purports to show the site of the Russian torture chamber and the corpses of civilians in Bucha, a small town 35 miles northwest of Kyiv.
They had been shot in the back execution-style, while at least one had been shot in the kneecaps, according to Ukrainian sources.
"The occupiers set up a barracks in one room," the video shared by Ukraine's Ministry of Defence reads.
"Civilians were shot in the next room. Their bodies are still here."
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In the video, a Ukrainian soldier showing the camera crew around the basement says: ";First they shot their knees. Look what happened to the knee."
The video goes on: "They tied their hands, put them on their knees against the wall. Shot to the head. That's all."
Another Ukrainian soldier says to camera: "Yes, one of the episodes was when the place where [the Russians] were based was found.
"That's where they lived, where they had their headquarters, where they planned, and I understand there was a separate room for the officer from their federal security service.
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"There was a room for interrogations, and in the next room, five murdered civilians with their hands tied and their heads shot."
Some 280 people have been buried in mass graves in Bucha, according to the town's mayor Anatoly Fedoruk.
He claimed that among the victims was a boy just 14 years old.
Russia was branded "worse than ISIS" and accused of genocide after the horror images were seen around the world.
At least 20 men dressed as civilians were found dead in the street after Ukrainian forces retook the town last week.`
The bodies of the dead litter the streets, with many too scared to recover the bodies over fears they have been booby-trapped by Russian forces.
"We have found that already in Irpin," one soldier explained. "They rig the dead with mines to kill those who come to recover them."
It comes as...
- Russia has been branded 'worse than ISIS' after more than 400 civilians were reportedly executed in Bucha
- Boris Johnson has slammed Russia's 'despicable attacks' and vowed 'we will not rest until justice is done'
- A Ukrainian mayor and her husband and son were executed west of Kyiv, with their bodies dumped in a shallow grave
- Harrowing footage shows a distraught mum uncovering her daughter's shallow grave after Russian troops withdrew
- The wreck of Russia's newest £38m fighter jet has been pictured, after Putin's flagship aircraft was shot out of the sky over Ukraine
- Putin's mysterious 'Rasputin' figure who wants Russia to rule over all of Europe has been profiled
Bucha, close to Hostomel Airfield, was the scene of fierce fighting since the early days of the war, along with the neighbouring town of Irpin.
The alleged behaviour of Putin's troops has shocked Ukrainian officials, even those who had been in the town before the Russian retreat.
"They used civilians like bait," Stanislav Polukhin, 34, a special police battalion commander said.
He had been sent to Bucha two weeks ago to try and evacuate civilians from the stricken town.
"They taped white tapes on their arms and told the people, just go there. They are civilians."
He went on: "When our military, our forces, see the people with the white tape, they identify them as the enemy. And that is what they wanted."
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Polukhin said the marauding Russian army had raided this house, stealing booze, jewellery, and money.
"They drank every bit of alcohol in every house," he said. "Maybe 1,000 bottles of whisky and vodka in this neighbourhood. Jewellery, computers, cash - all gone."
Polukhin also discovered the bodies of eight dead Ukrainians in civilian clothing behind the abandoned Russian headquarters in Bucha.
The pink-tiled building, headquarters of a government building supplies company, had been completely trashed.
"They slept with all this trash all around," he said. "They are disgusting."
Bottles of urine and empty ration tins were also discovered on the site.
There was a room for interrogations, and in the next room, five murdered civilians with their hands tied and their heads shot
Ukrainian soldier
It comes as Putin's troops have been pushed out of the Kyiv region after five weeks of heavy fighting.
However, as territorial defence soldier Sergeiy Torovik, 53, said, the mood in the towns around the capital is one of sadness.
"There's nothing to be happy about. Only sorrow for the people who were killed," he told .
"The Russian soldiers are lower than animals. Animals don't do what they did.
"We shouldn't take them hostage. They must die. They must be destroyed."
Torovik, a gardener before the war, had returned to his home town of Stoyanka, west of Kyiv, after a month away.
He recounted the horror discoveries he had made in the town, including seeing a dog eating a woman's body that had been abandoned in the street.
However, the worst was to come when he went into the basement of a house.
"We found 18 bodies in there," he said. "They had been torturing people.
"Some of them had their ears cut off. Others had teeth pulled out.
"There were kids like 14, 16 years old, some adults. They just took the bodies away yesterday."
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Similar stories of unimaginable horror have emerged from other newly-liberated towns around Kyiv.
There are reports of mothers being raped in front of their children, as well as fleeing families murdered in their cars.
Russia has denied taking part in any of the alleged atrocities in and around Bucha, with its defence ministry branding photos and videos from the scene "the latest fabrication of the Kyiv regime for western media, as with the maternity hospital in Mariupol, and in other towns".
It also claimed Russia's forces left the town on March 30, and said the mayor had confirmed their departure on March 31 without any mention of the shocking crimes.
"Not a single resident was hurt by violent action while this town was under control of the Russian armed forces."
The ministry also said that Ukrainian forces had shelled Bucha for weeks "non-stop", and that Russian forces hadn't stopped locals from leaving to the north into Russian-controlled territory.
Russia's commander in charge at Bucha was named in reports today as Lt Col Azatbek Omurbekov.
His 64th Motorised Rifle Brigade is said to have been sent from Russia's far east.
Volunteers who identified the unit online said: "Soon all these murderers, rapists, and looters will be known by name."
Chechen forces under the command of warlord Ramzan Kadyrov are also reported to have fought in Bucha.
Last week, pictures showed a destroyed column of tanks belonging to the Chechen troops in the town.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky today visited Bucha to witness the scenes of devastation.
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Yesterday, he accused Putin of genocide, adding: "This is about the elimination of the whole nation and the people.
"We are the citizens of Ukraine and we don't want to be subdued to the police of Russian Federation. This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated."
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