By Mari Saito

BUCHA, Ukraine (Reuters). Bohdan Zumchuk worked as a communitiy police officer before the conflict in Ukraine. His duties included patrolling Bucha’s quiet streets outside Kyiv, dealing with petty criminality, and handling minor complaints.

The 29-year old said that his town and his job wouldn’t be the same if he was to walk down the street in which the bodies of many victims were found following the Russian troop retreat late last month.

He said, “We won’t forget anything we saw here. This will remain with us for the rest of our lives.”

Images of bodies in the streets made public by last week’s victims caused an international uproar.

Zubchuk explained that since the Russians left Zubchuk and his fellow police officers in the community have been assigned to help traumatised victims with everything, from getting humanitarian aid to checking around for unexploded ordnance.

Officials in Ukraine claim that hundreds of civilians died since the Russians left. Bucha’s deputy mayor claimed that 360 civilians died under Russian occupation. Reuters couldn’t independently verify these numbers.

Russia has denied that it targeted civilians after the February 24th invasion of Ukraine. It has called allegations that Russian forces killed civilians in Bucha during their occupation of the city a “monstrous fabrication” to denigrate the Russian army.

Reuters witnessed five Bucha victims who had been shot in the head. One of the victims had his hands tied behind him. One had his hands tied behind his back. Another had his feet tied. Reuters cannot independently identify who did it.

Although the body had been removed by local residents and local workers on Saturday, remnants of shelling left behind ash and charred cement.

Zubchuk stated, “Everytime I pass this street, I will be reflecting back on what occurred here.”

Friday was the first day of exhumation at a Bucha mass grave. Forensic investigators carefully removed bodies from the muddy trench and examined them to determine their identities.

Zubchuk stated that during the first weeks after the Russian troops arrived in Bucha, he and his colleagues hid in basements. They continued to work until the day they were forced to flee the city together with their families.

Zubchuk claimed that Russian soldiers searched the area for police officers, and military veterans during the occupation.

CALM IS UNEXPECTED IN AN “ISLAND”

On Saturday in Bucha volunteers dressed in bright vests picked up trash and hardhats helped to remove any remaining Russian tanks.

Moscow describes the war as “special operations” meant to “denazify and demilitarize” Russia’s neighbor. Allies and Ukraine claim that this pretext is baseless.

Valerie Lysenko was one of many residents who returned to Bucha to see the damage first hand. Lysenko stated that she ran from her hometown just over a week following the Russian invasion of Bucha.

Lysenko claimed that before war Lysenko was constantly inviting friends to Bucha. She said it was an island of peace outside Kyiv, with wonderful parks and great infrastructure.

Her town’s name had come to be synonymous with civil war and civilian suffering.

She stated, “The only thing they know of Bucha (is people dead), people tied with their hands, people tortured or murdered and this is what breaks my heart.”

She said, “If it says I am in pain, that’s just one percent”