Ukrainian military has made yet another war crimes charge against Russian troops in what has been called the Bucha Massacre. According to them, civilians would have been forced to wear a Russian symbol on their arm, with the alleged aim of being shot by Ukrainian troops.
Little evidence of this practice has been provided by the Ukrainians and Russia denies the allegation. But how civilians are being identified on the battlefield is an important factor in understanding the death toll of non-combatants in Ukraine’s war – which now exceeds 1,400, according to the latest UN report.
After Russian troops withdrew from the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of the capital Kiev, on March 30, photos and videos revealed that dozens of civilian bodies were found on the streets. They would be more than 300, according to the Ukrainian government.
Some of these people had a peculiar item on their clothing: a piece of cloth or white duct tape wrapped around their arm.
What does that mean?
Russian and Ukrainian soldiers use very similar combat vehicles, weapons and even uniforms. To avoid “friendly fire” on the battlefield, Ukrainians wear yellow or blue armbands. Russians wear white ribbons.
But why are civilian bodies showing up with these white ribbons? They could be combatants in civilian clothes, but that doesn’t explain the whole point. Some of the dead were not of military age and wore the ribbons on their arms.
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Ukrainian military personnel have claimed that the Russians forced civilians to wear white identification and ordered them to walk towards areas occupied by Ukrainian troops. The idea was that the Ukrainian military would mistake them for Russians and shoot to kill.
But what would be the point of that? According to fighters on the ground, the idea would be to make the Ukrainians fire their weapons, thus revealing their position on the battlefield – without exposing Russian troops to danger. The Russians could then bomb the Ukrainian positions.
However, it seems unlikely that Ukrainian troops cannot distinguish a Russian fighter from a civilian with a white armband. But it’s easy to try to judge without being in the heat of battle.
President Volodymyr Zelensky seems to have a different interpretation of the civilian deaths in Bucha. He told the UN that Russians were killing Ukrainian civilians “for pleasure”.
Many of the situations reported by him – such as people having their tongues cut out, rapes or simulated executions as a form of psychological torture – refer to the past of this region, when Soviet troops invaded Eastern European countries during World War II during the fight against the Nazis.
But there is another interpretation for the white bands on the arms of civilians.
Since the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian president has encouraged civilian men of military age to take up arms. Many of them are given rifles and ammunition and go to the battlefield in ordinary clothes. The only things that identify them as combatants are the gun and the yellow Ukrainian armband (the blue one is for professional military personnel or international legion fighters).
At the same time, Ukrainian fighters have been using civilian buildings and houses for shelter and even ambushing Russian troops. It is known, on the other hand, that the Russians are apparently indiscriminately bombing civilian and military targets.
This gray area where part of the Ukrainian fighters operates gives Russia the following argument: “There are no civilians on the battlefield, only fighters and insurgents, therefore, everyone would be legitimate targets” – which is clearly not true, as there is an entire population just wanting to survive the conflict.
So the reality seems to be somewhere between these extremes. Frontline reports say the Russians are ordering civilians to wear the white sashes, not to use them as bait, but to differentiate them from combatants. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that civilians are being protected.
Residents told TV Record correspondents André Azeredo and André Zorato this week in the city of Bucha that both Russian and Ukrainian troops invaded homes and looted citizens’ food and goods during the fighting.
Many were treated violently and forced to stay for days in hiding in basements with restricted access to food.
Evidence of Murders
But many residents were unable to survive the fighting, and robust evidence of Russian abuse is beginning to emerge.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said that the bodies of civilians found in Bucha were placed there by Ukrainians after the withdrawal of Russian troops on the 30th.
But satellite images show that objects very similar to these bodies were already in the positions in which they were found by the Ukrainians before Russian troops left the city.
This Wednesday, the American newspaper The New York Times revealed another evidence. A video recorded by a Ukrainian drone clearly shows armored Russian troop transports firing cannons at a man riding a bicycle.
At the same time, testimonial evidence appears. At least 25 women said they were raped by Russian forces in Bucha, according to Lyudmyla Denisova, human rights commissioner in Ukraine’s parliament.
But cases with such clear evidence are rare. International authorities will have to conduct detailed investigations to investigate war crimes and, eventually, try to impose punishments. But this is not a quick process.
In the meantime, the Bucha scenario can be repeated in cities from which Russian troops are withdrawing, such as Hostomel, Borodyanka, Chernigov, among others.
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