{"id":102499,"date":"2025-05-15T03:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T03:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/102499\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T03:42:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T03:42:11","slug":"rewriting-bucha-russian-governor-promotes-paratroopers-story-that-flips-the-narrative-of-one-of-the-invasions-most-documented-atrocities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/102499\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewriting Bucha Russian governor promotes paratrooper\u2019s story that flips the narrative of one of the invasion\u2019s most documented atrocities"},"content":{"rendered":"

In December 2022, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine concluded<\/a> that Russian forces \u201csummarily executed or carried out attacks on individuals\u201d in the early weeks of their full-scale invasion, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians in towns across the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions. In Bucha, just outside Kyiv, U.N. investigators documented the killing of 73 civilians (54 men, 16 women, and three children) and said they were working to verify another 105 alleged executions. In July 2023, the city unveiled a memorial<\/a> honoring the 501 people who died during the Russian occupation in March 2022.<\/p>\n

Extensive reporting has thoroughly debunked Kremlin claims that the Bucha massacre was staged, but in Russia, the belief that Ukrainian forces were responsible still prevails. On May 14, 2025, Penza Governor Oleg Melnichenko added to Russia\u2019s Bucha mythology by promoting an interview<\/a> with paratrooper Alexey Kusakin, who claims that Russian invaders actually saved civilians during the city\u2019s capture. Meduza summarizes Agentstvo\u2019s reporting<\/a> on the soldier\u2019s account.<\/p>\n

In a video shared on Governor Melnichenko\u2019s Telegram channel, Alexey Kusakin recounts what he \u201csaw in Bucha,\u201d claiming that Ukrainian soldiers \u201cused children as human shields,\u201d while Russian troops only \u201cevacuated\u201d them. Journalists at Agentstvo reviewed leaked personal database records, which show that Kusakin served in Russia\u2019s 234th Airborne Assault Regiment. In May 2022, The New York Times published an investigation<\/a> uncovering weapons packing slips, POW testimony, and other evidence linking this Russian unit to the executions of Bucha residents who had recently joined the city\u2019s defense forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, there\u2019s this picture online \u2014 our soldier standing in front of a stroller with children, and a Ukrofascist [sic] hiding behind it, using the kids as a shield,\u201d Kusakin says in the interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ukrainian authorities recovered the bodies of nine children after Russian troops were expelled from Bucha, and girls as young as 14 reported being raped by Russian soldiers. Still, Kusakin describes the occupation as a humanitarian act:<\/p>\n

When you see a kid in the window and a Ukrofascist [sic] standing next to them, and you can\u2019t do anything, because you understand the kids haven\u2019t done anything wrong. And when my guys and I were getting them out, we didn\u2019t care whether they were Ukrainian or whatever. All we thought was: they\u2019re just kids. And kids shouldn\u2019t have to see what war is.<\/p>\n

Kusakin adds that he now visits \u201cvarious schools\u201d to teach children \u201clessons in courage.\u201d He says most questions come from girls, \u201cbecause half of them have fathers in the special military operation zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the video\u2019s caption, Melnichenko writes that Kusakin \u201cwas in Bucha and saw with his own eyes what the enemy is capable of. [\u2026] That\u2019s why it matters so much to him that his fellow citizens are safe and that our children never have to experience war.\u201d According to the governor, Kusakin\u2019s volunteer work is part of the Penza region\u2019s initiative to promote war veterans \u2014 a local extension<\/a> of the Kremlin\u2019s \u201cTime of Heroes\u201d program to cultivate a \u201cnew elite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agentstvo found social media posts in which Kusakin wrote about passing through the Ukrainian cities of Hostomel, Bucha, and Irpin, starting on February 24, 2022. He described the war as \u201cterrifying\u201d and said he never felt sure he\u2019d survive. \u201cI held on as best I could. The only thing that kept me from losing my mind was God \u2014 and the cross on my chest,\u201d Kusakin wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In December 2022, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine concluded that Russian forces \u201csummarily executed or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332,7888,7883,7886,7875,7868,7880,7870,7881,7887,7876,7864,7871,7865,7873,7874,7866,7869,7867,7885,7879,7872,7884,7882,7878,7877],"class_list":{"0":"post-102499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia","9":"tag-7888","10":"tag-7883","11":"tag-7886","12":"tag-7875","13":"tag-7868","14":"tag-7880","15":"tag-7870","16":"tag-7881","17":"tag-7887","18":"tag-7876","19":"tag-7864","20":"tag-7871","21":"tag-7865","22":"tag-7873","23":"tag-7874","24":"tag-7866","25":"tag-7869","26":"tag-7867","27":"tag-7885","28":"tag-7879","29":"tag-7872","30":"tag-7884","31":"tag-7882","32":"tag-7878","33":"tag-7877"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114509784329962919","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}