A Russian commander has become the first military official to be accused of systematic and coordinated war crimes related to the Bucha massacre, one of the bloodiest atrocities of the war in Ukraine.
Yurii Vladimirovich Kim, 28, the lieutenant platoon commander in the 76th Air Assault Division, is suspected of being criminally responsible for ordering troops to commit war crimes, including the wilful killing of civilians, during the illegal occupation of Bucha between 7 March and 1 April 2022 in the early stages of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Kim is suspected to be responsible for 17 killings and four instances of ill-treatment purposely committed by forces under his command.
Ukrainian officials said that 458 bodies were recovered from the illegal occupation in the Kyiv Oblast, including nine children under the age of 18. Horrific photographs from Bucha published at the time showed bodies strewn across the street, wrapped in bin bags and buried in mass graves.
The International Criminal Court was asked by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Ukrainian authorities to investigate the incident and bring perpetrators to justice.
-(1)-Wikimedia-Com.jpg)
The Notice of Suspicion against Kim, issued by Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) and the National Police of Ukraine with support from international law foundation Global Rights Compliance (GRC), marks the beginning of an investigation of a pre-trial period which is seeking to hold Russian military leaders accountable for alleged war crimes.
Investigators used witness testimonies, crime scene reconstructions, identity parades, crime scene forensics, maps, and open-source intelligence to identify Kim as one of six suspected Russian soldiers who committed atrocities in Bucha. They claimed to have discovered instances where the Commander specifically ordered his forces to hunt, harm and kill individuals perceived as supporting or assisting Ukrainian armed or security forces.
The Commander then allegedly ordered his subordinates to burn some of the bodies to conceal the crime. If brought to trial, Kim could face between 20 years to life in prison, according to GRC. The Independent has contacted Russia’s Defence Ministry for comment.
Jeremy Pizzi, legal advisor at GRC indicated this Notice of Suspicion was one of many to come that would lay bare how Russia’s atrocities were committed under a command structure.
“This Notice of Suspicion is a building block, one of many to come. It rebuts the narrative that Russian atrocities in Bucha were the product of opportunistic perpetrators and exposes how atrocities were committed following specific criminal plans to target particular sectors of Ukrainian society essential for national resistance,” he said. “Given the extent of these patterns, we can begin to direct our attention upwards to the complicity of Russia’s leadership.”
Kim was accused of urging his subordinates to commit atrocities and convincing them of their impunity. According to a translation of the Notice of Suspicion, seen by The Independent, the Commander organised a reporting system through which he was aware of all his subordinates’ actions in the occupied territories with real opportunities to prevent crimes or punish those who committed them. Violence against Bucha’s residents became the norm for the entire unit, according to the Notice.
Some 330 victims and witnesses have been interrogated as part of a large-scale, complex investigation into the massacre, as well as 59 investigative experiments, 86 identifications by photographs, 89 inspections of crime scenes and three exhumations of deceased bodies.
-Wikimedia-Commons.jpg)
Maksym Tsutskiridze, first deputy head of the National Police of Ukraine – head of the Main Investigation Department, said the investigation was a step towards understanding the chain of command involved in the war crimes committed in Ukraine.
“The investigation of war crimes in Bucha is not only about delivering justice for the crimes of the past — it is about our ability to uphold justice in its highest sense. We have moved beyond bringing low-ranking perpetrators to account — now we are uncovering the chain of command decisions through which ordinary orders turned into mass executions of civilians,” he said.
“Behind every piece of evidence collected by our investigators stands the life of a person killed in their own home or on the streets of their city. We have no right to make mistakes, for their memory compels us to be impeccable.”
He added that the mission of the police was to “build a system that guarantees the inevitability of punishment for international crimes and strengthens global trust in Ukrainian justice”.
“We do everything possible in pursuit of truth, justice and the restoration of the dignity of every person who perished in Bucha,” he said.
‘I reported my child missing then heard nothing’: Young people who fall through gaps
Thousands of young people face homelessness this winter as crisis worsens
US wants Germany to take over as Nato commander, Trump envoy says
Ukraine war live: Kremlin and Kyiv respond to Trump’s ‘secret’ peace talks claim
Russia’s Yantar ‘spy’ ship: Why it is lurking near UK waters – and the risks it poses
Gustav Klimt painting that spared subject from Nazis breaks modern art price record
