Radio broadcasts in which Russian soldiers appear to be talking to each other about the premeditated killings of civilians in Ukraine have been intercepted by Germany’s foreign intelligence service, a source close to the findings said.
The evidence was presented by officials from the Foreign Intelligence Service (BND) to lawmakers on Wednesday.
Radio reports were first published in the German news magazine Spiegel, which said the reports were linked to atrocities committed in Bucha, north of Kyiv.
Several of them can be directly compared to places and objects shown in photos that document the consequences of the killings, the magazine writes.
The workers are reviewing the documentation of the civilian authorities. Photo: Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
A mass grave was unveiled in Bucha over the weekend, along with dozens of corpses of civilians lying on the ground, following the withdrawal of the Russian military. The hands of some of the dead were tied, while other corpses showed traces of torture. Many women and children are believed to be among the victims.
The Russian government has vehemently denied allegations that its soldiers carried out the assassinations, which world leaders, including Joe Biden and Germany’s Olaf Scholz, have identified as war crimes. Russia has repeatedly claimed that the killings were staged. However, the growing number of testimonies contributed to the credibility of the reports. The UN General Assembly removed Russia from the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday over reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” by invading Russian troops in Ukraine.
Radio reports say Russian soldiers discussed how they interrogated Ukrainian soldiers as well as civilians before shooting them.
According to Spiegel, who indirectly refers to people who attended the meeting at which BND officials handed over new evidence to a select group of lawmakers, the recordings “completely nullify Russia’s denials.”
Sergei Lakhovsky mourns the grave of his friend Igor Litvinenko. Photo: Alkis Konstantinidis / Reuters
In one of the radio conversations, a Russian voice is heard telling someone how he and another soldier shot a man who was on a bicycle. One of the many photos of the atrocities that have traveled the world in recent days was the corpse of a man next to a bicycle.
In another communication, a man was heard saying, “First you interrogate the soldier, then you shoot them.” The impression was that the soldiers were really talking about the killings, as if they were discussing daily activities, MPs were told by Spiegel.
It is also alleged that the intelligence gives credence to reports that Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group were central to the killings. The group has previously been active in the war in Syria, where the vicious nature of its activities is well known.
Speaking on Thursday, Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said the number of bodies found in the city was increasing every day, with 320 civilians identified so far. Specialists at the crime scene removed corpses from private properties, parks and squares, he said, as well as from temporary graves. “Almost 90% were killed by bullets, not shrapnel,” he added.
BND records have raised suspicions that the killings were neither accidental nor committed by soldiers who may have acted autonomously, as previously suggested.
Other radio recordings are being analyzed, according to Spiegel. However, their exact location seems more difficult. They reportedly reported similar activities in other parts of Ukraine, in and around the port city of Mariupol, which was largely destroyed by Russian bombing.
A family mourns the disappearance of a relative in front of a mass grave in the town of Bucha. Photo: Anadolu Agency / Getty Images
The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the expertise of criminalists in Europe is urgently needed, and independent experts should be ready to gather as much evidence as possible as soon as possible, as soon as alleged atrocities are revealed. expects to have much more.
The massacre in Mali last week, which killed 300 people and allegedly involved Russian fighters, had “all the hallmarks of the Russian army’s modus operandi,” the source said, adding that it was similar to the army’s attacks. did. participates in Syria. This has raised expectations that the expert capacity to gather forensic evidence will be increasingly needed, the source added.
In Ukraine on Thursday, as humanitarian aid teams and volunteers continued into the area around Kyiv recaptured by Russian troops, evidence of new atrocities committed against Ukrainian civilians by the occupying forces continued to emerge.
Residents pass by destroyed Russian military equipment. Photo: Roman Pilipei / EPA
As roads were cleared of mines and the remains of burned tanks and civilian cars, residents returned home to find their homes looted or destroyed, neighbors disappeared, bodies decomposed in basements and hastily dug graves in gardens. Violence and death in the towns and villages around Kyiv stand out even from the appalling standards of other conflict zones.
Also Thursday, Amnesty International published a report describing apparent war crimes in the Kyiv region, based on interviews with 20 people who witnessed or had direct knowledge of the horrific violence.
A woman in a village east of the capital told Amnesty investigators that on March 9, two Russian soldiers entered her house, killed her husband and repeatedly raped her at gunpoint while her young son hid nearby. She later managed to escape to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
In the village of Vorzel, Natalia and Valery Tkachova left their basement on March 3rd to check on Russian tanks, telling their 18-year-old daughter Katerina to stay hidden. After hearing gunshots, Katerina left the basement to find her parents lying dead on the street, her father shooting six times in the back and her mother once in the chest. She was helped to leave Vorzel on March 10.
“Evidence shows that unarmed civilians in Ukraine are being killed in their homes and on the streets in acts of indescribable cruelty and shocking brutality,” said Amnes Secretary-General Agnes Kalamar in a statement. “The premeditated killing of civilians is a violation of human rights and a war crime. These deaths must be thoroughly investigated and those responsible must be prosecuted, including upstream. “
Add Comment