The European Union (EU) has announced sanctions against nine individuals accused of committing war crimes in Bucha, a town in the Kyiv region of Ukraine. This decision was communicated by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Among those targeted are several alleged Kremlin propagandists, including Franco-Russian Adrien Boke, identified by Barrot as a key recruiter of foreign fighters in Ukraine. Boke is also accused of promoting war crimes and conducting disinformation campaigns across Europe and Africa.
Bucha was under Russian occupation for 33 days, beginning on February 27, 2022, when Russian forces entered the town with heavy military equipment. On the same day, a missile struck a residential building, marking the start of civilian casualties, as reported by the town’s mayor, Anatoliy Fedoruk.
Russian troops retreated from Bucha on March 31, 2022. By the evening of April 2, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense officially announced that all settlements in the Kyiv region had been liberated from Russian forces.
Upon the liberation of Bucha, journalists and Ukrainian military personnel discovered evidence of mass killings, with some bodies found in the streets and others bound with their hands behind their backs. Ukraine has called on the international community to join investigations into the killings of civilians in Bucha. On April 14, 2022, Karim Khan, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, visited the town personally.
In April 2022, exhumations began in a mass grave near the Church of Andrew the First-Called and All Saints to identify the deceased and clarify the circumstances of their deaths. Private American company Maxar Technologies reported that the first signs of this mass grave were detected in satellite images as early as March 10, 2022.
Law enforcement officials have documented over 9,000 war crimes committed by the Russian army during its occupation of the Bucha district. More than 1,700 civilians lost their lives, and by the end of 2022, authorities had identified 91 Russian soldiers involved in these war crimes. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have stated that they eliminated Russian troops responsible for torturing civilians in Bucha.
The EU has imposed sanctions on individuals linked to war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine, following the town's occupation by Russian forces. Evidence of mass killings has prompted international calls for investigations into the actions of those involved.
Source: Reuters