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Ukrainian authorities filed criminal charges Thursday against 10 individual Russian soldiers accused of taking civilians hostage and mistreating them in the Kyiv suburb Bucha — the first such move by prosecutors investigating possible war crimes by Moscow’s forces.
See: More Western sanctions to hit Russia after Bucha killings
Plus: Biden suggests Putin should face war-crimes trial over killings in Bucha, Ukraine
All 10 were noncommissioned officers and privates from Russia’s 64th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, one of the units that took part in the monthlong occupation of Bucha.
“‘Our goal is to identify every criminal who committed a crime, for every crime to find its perpetrator.’”
In late March, after the Russian military retreated, Ukrainian authorities said they discovered more than 400 dead civilians, their bodies packed in mass graves or left splayed on streets and sidewalks.
Many had bullet wounds and some had their wrists bound behind their backs, Ukrainian authorities said. Some residents of the town also have told investigators and the Wall Street Journal that Russian troops held them captive, denied them food and tortured them.
Since the Russian withdrawal, Ukrainian investigators and prosecutors have been combing Bucha for evidence and interviewing witnesses.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
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