Russian Army Officer Recently Blessed By Orthodox Church Accused Of Being 'Butcher Of Bucha'

The mass murder of civilians in the city of Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv, by the Russian forces, is being described as by far the most heinous act of the invading troops in Ukraine.

Bodies of hundreds of civilians have been recovered from the streets of Bucha in the past few days since the Russians withdrew from there.

Many had their hands tied behind and were shot from close range.

Reuters

As the international outcry over the massacre grows, Ukrainian volunteers have uncovered the identity of the man who allegedly ordered the massacre.

Who is Lieutenant Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov?

According to Ukrainian intelligence, Lieutenant Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov - who leads the 64th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade which occupied the region and was the commander in the area, was responsible for the mass murders and other atrocities against civilians.

Anonymous Operations

According to InformNapalm, a Ukrainian volunteer initiative that monitors the activities of the Russian military and special services, Omurbekov was blessed by an Orthodox priest in November last year before his deployment to Ukraine.

Speaking after the service led by the Bishop of Khabarovsk, the commander, whose unit is based in a town outside Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East, said: 'History shows that we fight most of our battles with our souls. Weapons are not the most important thing.'

Anonymous Operations

Omurbekov was in Bucha

Volunteers group Tretya Sila reported: "In Bucha there was a military unit 51460 from the village of Knyaze-Volkonskoye, Khabarovsk region...

¡°Soon all these murderers, rapists and looters will be known by name."

InformNapalm volunteers named Omurbekov as unit 51460 of the 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade.

Omurbekov was previously also awarded a medal for outstanding service in 2014 by Dmitry Bulgakov, the deputy Russian defense minister.

InformNapalm

Under international law, a military commander is responsible for any war crimes committed by his troops.

Russia blames Ukraine for Bucha massacre

Faced with heavy international criticism and calls for a war crimes probe Russia has so far tried to blame Ukraine for what happened in Bucha.

AFP

Russian ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said Russian troops had left Bucha on March 30 and alleged that Ukraine had staged the massacre.

Russia had even claimed that Ukraine forces had murdered the civilians after its troops left the city.

Satellite images show bodies in Bucha for weeks, rebutting Moscow claim that dead bodies appeared there after Russian forces retreatedhttps://t.co/p8KcLxrg3z#AFPgraphics makes a comparison of two photographs taken on March 19 and April 2 in Bucha pic.twitter.com/hMja70znpJ

¡ª AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 6, 2022

Satellite images don't lie

However, analysis of the satellite images by The New York Times showed dots in the exact coordinates where the bodies were later found in the liberated areas. That corroborated the accounts of witnesses who said many had lain there for weeks.

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