Russia asks UN to hand full list of Bucha victims; presses for int'l investigation

Russia on Thursday pushed for an independent investigation into what was labelled as the "genocide" in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, near Kyiv, last year. Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova called on the United Nations to publish the official list of the Bucha victims, hinting in the past that the killings were staged by Ukraine to smear Russian troops.

Russia's MFA demanded that the UN must identify and provide the full list of Bucha's residents who the world proclaimed was killed by Russian forces. UN organisation has not provided such a list yet, Zakharova stressed on March 30. Moscow, since last year, has been arguing that the killings in Bucha were a "provocation" by Ukraine and its Western allies that was aimed at imposing new anti-Russia sanctions.

"We are saying it once again. In order to find out the truth, it is necessary to carry out a fair, impartial, independent investigation, which should be focused on giving answers to four questions: identification of bodies, time and cause of death, signs of possible transportation of the bodies," Zakharova said during her press conference, according to Sputnik.

Russia faced fierce global outrage and condemnation for Bucha killings

In April 2022, as the Russian troops witnessed fierce global outrage and condemnation for the war crimes and mass civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha shortly after they retreated from the outskirts of Kyiv, the Republic Media Network camera and reporter team accessed the site on the ground. Reporting LIVE from the war zone, Republic's team had verified the images of the battered bodies strewn across the streets and discovered the mass graves. Russia had previously deflected on its troops committing the war crimes and had called the Bucha killings “Ukrainian propaganda”. 

Republic’s Shawan Sen reported that he witnessed the hastily dug graves in the northwestern town near Irpin that relayed the story of horror and depicted the harrowing scenes of carnage that were carried out by the invading Russian troops. At the mass grave sites, dozens of bodies were seen wrapped in black plastic bags lying inside the trenches. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had labelled the incident as the planned “genocide.”