Some bodies were so mutilated that sex could not be determined, Ukrainian police recall de-occupation
Pravda Ukraine
Maksym Tsutskyridze, First Deputy Head of the National Police and Head of the Main Investigative Department (MID) of the National Police of Ukraine, has emphasised that virtually every de-occupied city in Ukraine that police entered was a vast crime scene.
Source: Tsutskyridze in a comment to Ukrinform regarding the start of Russia’s full-scale war in 2022
Quote from Tsutskyridze: “Practically every de-occupied city was one massive crime scene where we had not only to examine bodies but also to establish the circumstances of their deaths, identify direct witnesses and determine those responsible for these crimes. And all of this took place among buildings destroyed by missiles and looted by marauders, on mined territory where, besides us, municipal workers also arrived, eager to clean up the horror wrought by the Russians, yet inadvertently risking the removal of crucial evidence needed for investigations.”
Details: The head of MID revealed that it was critically important for police officers to document everything – from a spent shell casing on the street to inspecting the premises where the Russians had been stationed.
He explained that some cases were solved based on a single fingerprint, as law enforcement officers rely on any piece of physical evidence. Thousands of investigators and forensic experts from all over the country were mobilised for this task, all united by one goal: to record every atrocity committed so that no war criminal escapes accountability.
Tsutskyridze noted that thanks to this meticulous documentation, investigators preserved vital testimonies and evidence, which have already formed the basis for thousands of indictments and hundreds of convictions of Russian war criminals.
The first deputy head of the National Police recalled that it was in Kyiv, Sumy and Chernihiv oblasts in the spring of 2022 that police investigators first began documenting Russian atrocities.
Quote: “This is a horrifying experience I wouldn’t wish upon any colleague in the world. These are terrible memories. We encountered unprecedented mass crimes against humanity, the terror inflicted on children and civilians. But we had no time to process it – we had to not only document Russian crimes but also investigate them professionally.”
By the time police entered the de-occupied areas of Kharkiv and Kherson oblasts in the autumn of 2022, they had already developed clear protocols.
Quote: “After the Russians left, the situation everywhere was the same: local residents had been without water, gas or electricity for months, left with no mobile communication. Pharmacies, gas stations and stores had been completely looted, while hundreds of buildings had been destroyed or damaged. People lived in horrific conditions, without food or medicine, constantly fearing they would become the occupiers’ next target. And this fear was reasonable.”
As an example, Tsutskyridze cited Bucha, where for weeks, bodies of unarmed civilians lay on the streets, having been killed simply for trying to find food or escape the occupied city. Some were buried in makeshift graves.
He added that in Kharkiv Oblast, the Russians disposed of bodies in a more systematic manner.
Quote: “In the city of Izium, Russian-appointed officials hastily buried the people the enemy had murdered, tortured to death or killed in larger-scale attacks in a forest at an old cemetery that had not been used for burials for years. The closer you got to the forest, the stronger the stench of death became. It was so overwhelming that when I returned to the car after inspecting the site, my driver vomited – the smell had seeped into my clothes.”
Law enforcement discovered 448 bodies of civilians and military personnel in the mass graves in Izium.
Quote: “Neither I nor anyone else present had ever seen so many dead at once. Their conditions varied – some had died naturally, while others had been so brutally mutilated by the occupiers that it was impossible even to determine their sex.”
Tsutskyridze recalled that the only bright memory amid those dark days was the joy with which locals welcomed Ukrainian troops and police as they arrived in the de-occupied territories.
Quote: “People said that with us, life had returned to them. Citizens’ gratitude kept us going everywhere. In every corner of the country, we strengthened their trust with our constant presence and assistance, trying to resolve every issue they faced – even those beyond our jurisdiction – remaining in touch at all times and, despite all risks, always responding to calls.”
Tsutskyridze noted that people reciprocated with unprecedented support for the police, which reached historic highs at the start of the full-scale war.
Quote: “In the past, our investigators would visit those they had saved during the war to wish them well at Christmas and they found that even as time passed, people remembered everything and were deeply grateful.”
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