| TV19

Ukrainian Officials Reveal Identity of Russian Leader Accused in Bucha Massacre

Ukraine has named a Russian Military officer it alleges was involved in “organized, deliberate war crimes” in Bucha — the town outside Kyiv where hundreds of civilians were killed during Russia’s short-lived occupation in 2022.

According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Yurii Vladimirovich Kim, a platoon commander in Russia’s 76th Air Assault Division, is accused of directing his soldiers to execute civilians between March 7 and April 1, 2022.

Bucha became a global symbol of the savagery of Russia’s invasion after its forces withdrew, revealing streets scattered with the bodies of children, elderly residents, and other civilians. Many victims were discovered in mass graves, while others showed signs of torture or execution inside basements.

Ukrainian authorities say Kim — who remains at large — bears criminal responsibility for 17 civilian deaths and four cases of torture or abuse reportedly carried out by troops under his leadership. Global Rights Compliance, a legal group assisting Ukraine in its investigation, said the case is supported by eyewitness accounts, forensic analysis, crime scene reconstructions, identification procedures, mapping, and open-source intelligence.

Kim is additionally accused of ordering the burning of victims’ bodies in an attempt to hide evidence of the crimes.

“The evidence reveals that Russian forces carried out these actions systematically, suggesting that many of Bucha’s atrocities were not random acts but part of a coordinated plan involving higher levels of command,” Global Rights Compliance said in a statement.

Ukraine has previously identified individual soldiers and another commander it claims were responsible for mass killings in Bucha.

“We are moving past the prosecution of only lower-level offenders — we are now uncovering the chain of command that allowed ordinary military orders to become mass civilian executions,” said Maksym Tsutskiridze, First Deputy Head of Ukraine’s National Police, in a statement released by the legal team.

The Kremlin continues to deny that its forces killed civilians in Bucha, instead accusing Ukraine of staging the scene.

CNN has sought comment from the Russian government.

This article has been updated to remove a reference stating that Kim was the first commander to receive a Notice of Suspicion.