Russian deserter reports from Bucha: ‘Many madmen who like murder’ After weeks of negotiations: the new government in Denmark is here

The Bucha massacre is considered one of the worst war crimes in Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine since February 24, 2022. Already on the first day of the invasion, Russian troops advanced on the small suburb of the capital Kiev and killed the fleeing and inhabitants. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the main responsible for the serious crimes in Bucha was the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Russian army. Nikita Chibrin was also hers.

Chibrin, 27, deserted and fled to Spain via Kazakhstan and Belarus. There he applied for asylum. In interviews, he reports on his unit’s crimes – for example, those of several soldiers: “They were rapists. They raped a mother and her daughter,” Chibrin told CNN.

Military service under the «butcher of Bucha»

His superiors weren’t really interested in their subordinates’ crimes, he told a station correspondent: “The rapists were beaten but never punished by law for their crimes. They didn’t go to prison, but were discharged from the army . They just got fired from this war.”

In the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade, Chibrin served under Colonel Ozodbek Umurbekov, who was dubbed the “Butcha Butcher” by the media. Umurbekov is on the sanction list of the European Union and Great Britain. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense describes the entire unit as war criminals. After they left in April, mass graves with hundreds of dead were found in the forests around Bucha and the bodies of murdered Ukrainians lay in the streets of the small town.

“There are many crazy people who like to kill”

In the interview, the abandoned Chibrin also said his unit should kill anyone who shared information about the location of the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade. “If someone had a cell phone, we had explicit permission to kill them,” says Chibrin. “There are a lot of lunatics in the Russian army who enjoy killing people,” he added.

Aside from indiscriminate killings, looting was rife among the Russians stationed in Bucha. “Many of my units stole cars and other vehicles and sold them in Belarus,” says Chibrin. It said, “If you saw and stole something of value and didn’t get caught, you’re a good person.” The commanders would not have punished this behavior of the troops. “They said, ‘Whatever. Now what?” There is no discipline in this unit,” says Chibrin.

In another interview with the British newspaper “Guardian”, Chibrin claims that he “never fired his gun”. In Spain he is now waiting for the decision on his asylum application. He was then prepared to testify against his old unit in an international court. “This is a criminal war that Russia has started,” Chibrin told The Guardian. “I want to do everything I can to get him to stop.”