The afternoon sun is baking over the cemetery in Bucha. We pass long rows of tombstones and monuments, decorated with flowers, pictures and Ukrainian flags. At the heart of the cemetery – where the victims of Russia’s occupation are buried – are hundreds of newly made crosses.
The deafening silence is broken only by regular spades in the dry, sandy soil. Three close-cropped men in their 40s, wearing camouflage green military shirts, are repairing a grave destroyed by artillery fire.
Quick learning curve
Vlad (44) was a well-known tattoo artist before the invasion, but when the war started, he had to quickly learn new skills.
– Lifting a corpse was surprisingly easy to learn.
Vlad slams the spade into the ground and takes a couple of heavy breaths. He wipes sweat from his forehead with his forearm, which is tattooed with a crucifix.
– And I learned to make graves that fit people.
It was only coincidence that led Vlad to become a gravedigger – together with two colleagues he now considers brothers.
Death near
The start of the occupation was anything but safe for the former tattooist. At one point he was interrogated and stripped with several guns pointed at him.
– I lived in the apartment of a friend who works in the military. The Russians must have had a list of addresses for soldiers, because they suddenly kicked in the door. Ten Russian soldiers came running in. They ordered him to undress and get down on his knees, before beating him repeatedly.
– They were looking for nationalist symbols among my tattoos, says Vlad as he digs.
Vlad recalls a particularly aggressive Chechen soldier who suggested they just shoot him on the spot. Fortunately, another soldier found documents showing that he did not own the apartment. The same soldier persuaded the rest to leave him alone.
Tied
He looks over at Serhii (44), who is pouring a wheelbarrow load of earth over the broken grave.
– I was kidnapped on the way home from work, Serhii begins to tell.
This was also in the early days of the war. On a cold March evening, Serhii was dragged out of the car by Russian soldiers, who put a bag over his head and took him to a secret location.
Serhii quickly tried to escape, but this only led to the captors becoming more aggressive, he says.
– Then they taped my whole body to a chair, so I looked like a mummy. For a day they held me captive while they tried to find out if I had connections with the military.
After 24 hours they smashed his phone and released him.
A little later, Vlad and Serhii met for the first time, under dramatic circumstances.
The baptism of fire
The Russian forces had been driven out of Butsja after the first offensive, but at the beginning of March they were on their way back, and the suburb was under heavy fire, Vlad describes.
– One evening I discovered several cars burning outside the town hall. I just saw all the smoke and ran there; we all have our duty, and someone had to do it – so I jumped in, he says.
Serhii had found his way to the same area. They do not remember the situation that led to their contact, but suddenly both were sitting in Serhii’s car while they were looking for soda bottles and other liquid with which to put out the fires.
By nightfall, the situation was under control.
Serhii – who had already worked at the cemetery half a year before the invasion – asked Vlad if the next day he would help pick up dead bodies from the streets of Butsja, as well as bury them at the cemetery.
– I said yes, says Vlad, as he shrugs his shoulders.
Vlad is no stranger to contributing what he can in crisis situations. Early in the invasion, he had also called in tips about the location of several Russian military columns, which were later bombed.
He holds up four fingers in the air, with a proud look on his face.
Eventually, Artiom (43) also signed up as a volunteer. He was both a pizza baker and a carpenter before the invasion, but like the other two in the trio, he felt a calling to contribute what he could.
– In such situations it is important to have people you can trust, says Serhii, and nods towards both colleagues.
Fueled by anger and adrenaline
– I thought it would be easy, and that I would only help with a few simple lifts, says Vlad.
But when he arrived at the graveyard, Serhii threw a spade into his hands, and said; “dig a grave”. The job of giving the victims a place to rest went on while the fighting raged around and in Butsja. Dozens of civilians were killed every day, and the trio was never without work.
Vlad recalls how the sound of artillery and explosions filled the air as they worked. Adrenaline and anger overshadowed everything – even the feeling of lifting the dead people.
– I never felt how heavy they were, and it wasn’t difficult either. It was just something I had to do.
Vlad stops and looks into the air.
– People scream, the bombs fall, and you don’t even know your own body, he continues to explain.
Vlad originally had a sheet of paper where he counted the number of bodies he retrieved and buried, but it was confiscated by the Russians when he reached 200. He believes the number has doubled now.
War crimes
After Russian forces withdrew from the Kyiv region, the war crimes investigation began.
Up until now, almost 1,000 dead civilians have been found, Irina Pryanishnikova, spokeswoman for the police in the Kyiv region, tells Nettavisen. Many hundreds of these were in Butsja. Pictures from the streets of Butsja show executed civilians with their hands tied behind their backs.
Through close contact with hundreds of corpses, the trio can confirm the suspicions of war crimes.
– I have seen bodies that had been shot in the knees, hands and head. I have seen corpses without pants and without clothes. I don’t know what happened to them, but I see what I see, says Vlad.
The worst job they encountered was a lady who had been killed in her garden, says Serhii.
– She weighed 150 kilos, and was completely burnt out. The smell was absolutely terrible, he says, and adds that they have had to vomit many times.
The grave has now been rebuilt, and a temporary cross has been placed in the ground. Vlad walks over to the ambulance and pops the cork off a beer. Today’s effort is over.
Although the trio are proud of the work they have done, they all hope to go back to everyday life when this is all over.
– But I don’t know if life will ever be the same, says Vlad.
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