Bucha-like Horror Stories Emerge From Ivankiv, Liberated After 35 Days Of Russian Occupation
The killing of hundreds of civilians in the city of Bucha in Ukraine by the Russian troops had sent shockwaves across the world. Now, reports emerging from another city that was recently liberated from the Russian invaders suggest that Bucha may not be the only place Russian soldiers have unleashed their barbarism.
The killing of hundreds of civilians in the city of Bucha in Ukraine by the Russian troops had sent shockwaves across the world.
Now, reports emerging from another city that was recently liberated from the Russian invaders suggest that Bucha may not be the only place Russian soldiers have unleashed their barbarism.
Reuters
A British journalist who was one of the first to gain access to the town of Ivankiv, on the outskirts of Kyiv has painted a bleak picture there.
Warning: Contains distressing images
¡ª ITV News (@itvnews) April 6, 2022
The relief of those who had endured 35 days of Russian occupation was obvious in Ivankiv - but it is only when you hear what they have gone through that you can understand their trauma, @danriversitv reportshttps://t.co/6loFbbBwiB pic.twitter.com/OoNc9JWH7e
Battle for Ivankiv
Ivankiv was liberated on March 31, 35 days after it fell into the hands of Russian troops on February 27, just two days after the start of the war.
According to iTV Correspondent Dan Rivers, Ivankiv was cut off from the rest of the world until Ukrainian army engineers built a pontoon bridge.
Just got into Ivankiv. A town cut off from the outside world until yesterday when a temporary bridge enabled access. Horrifying accounts of shootings, rapes, etc. Hospital trying to save injured with no electricity or running water. pic.twitter.com/mQGW31C9Bm
¡ª Dan Rivers (@danriversitv) April 5, 2022
What happened in Ivankiv
Maryna Beschastna, the town¡¯s deputy mayor described to iTV how Russian soldiers treated women in the area.
¡°There was a case in one village, two sister were raped¡ girls of 15 and 16¡ children,¡± she said.
¡°Women were pulled by their hair out of their basements, so that they could abuse them. Girls started cutting their hair short to be less attractive, so no one looks at them anymore.¡±
katerina sergatskova/ Twitter
Elena Skoropad, a resident of the town said her 12-year-old son Artem was killed.
His mother and stepfather, Sasha, had tried to flee but they say a cluster munition exploded and peppered them with shrapnel.
¡°On the way here in the car Artem was shouting all the way mum, Sasha, I love you,¡± Skoropad said.
His grandfather passed away the day Ukrainian troops reached the town, from a heart attack. He died without knowing the town had been retaken.
¡ª Dan Rivers (@danriversitv) April 5, 2022
¡°These were his words, then he kept saying his legs were hurting, his back was hurting. When we brought him he was still alive but then the injuries were incompatible with life.¡±
The report also said that the local hospital is full of those injured from the shooting, shelling and mines.
For more than a month doctors here worked with almost nothing. ¡°We worked without electricity, without water,¡± one trauma surgeon said.
Images alone cannot hold Russia accountable
Meanwhile, as calls grow for an international war crimes probe against Russia, Philip Grant, who heads the TRIAL International NGO that works to ensure accountability for international crimes, said that, while powerful, such images alone cannot legally prove war crimes have occurred and who is responsible.
"Images in themselves rarely count as the defining evidence," he told AFP.
AP
"They can reveal important elements, but they will not reveal the full story," he said.
Grant said it was important to be "cautious" when interpreting events, pointing to past examples of manipulation and misinterpretation.
At the same time, Grant said, investigators should "exercise sound judgement" with what they can see.
In the case of the
AFP
images, "it looks pretty clear-cut that war crimes have been committed," he said.
But the images alone do not make it possible to "attribute that responsibility to a specific person or to a specific group."
Even if it was determined that "Russians did it," he said, "that's not accountability. We need to know who ordered that."
"Is it (Russian President) Vladimir Putin? Is it the commander on the ground? Is it a rogue unit?"
Reuters
"In terms of criminal liability," he said, "it's too early to say who should end up in court for those crimes."
That process can be long and complicated, he acknowledged.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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