Berlin For a week now, Bucha has been synonymous with Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Withdrawing from the small town northwest of Kyiv, the invaders left not only destroyed residential areas, broken military equipment and mines, but also the bodies of killed civilians on the streets, in basements and front yards.

More and more eyewitness reports about the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers and the discovery of a mass grave have brought Bucha to the attention of the world public. In response, the West has announced new, stricter sanctions.

The United Nations has suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks of genocide. Despite the abundance of evidence, Moscow denies that civilians were killed and spreads the lie that the bodies on Bucha’s streets were only placed there after its own withdrawal.