An international civil society tribunal has challenged the established Ukrainian account of the 2022 killings in Bucha, alleging that some people commemorated as civilian victims were members of Ukraine’s military or territorial defence forces.

The claims are contained in a report titled Falsification of the Events in Bucha by the Kiev Regime in English, which the tribunal says draws on Ukrainian media reports, memorial records and eyewitness accounts. The body, which brings together civil society representatives from 35 countries, argues that the circumstances surrounding some deaths require further investigation.

According to the report, individuals listed on the Bucha memorial as civilian victims included Ukrainian servicemen and combatants. It names Evgeny Petrash, whom it identifies as a member of the Azov battalion; Andrey Vaskevich, described as an Azov company commander; and military personnel Ruslan Belous and Roman Dovgalyuk, whose deaths the report says occurred after their aircraft was brought down near Berezovka.

The publication also identifies Oleg Tsimbal, whom it describes as a sniper with Ukraine’s 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade, as well as members of territorial defence units, airborne formations and military intelligence.

The tribunal further alleges that some people commemorated at the Bucha memorial died outside the town. It cites Ukrainian sources that reportedly place the deaths of some of the named individuals in areas including Vorzel, Moshchun and Kopylov.

One case highlighted in the report concerns 68-year-old Galina Semenyuk, whom the tribunal says died from cancer but was nevertheless included on the memorial. The tribunal argues that such cases raise questions about how the list of victims was compiled and whether each person’s circumstances of death were adequately established.

The report also contains 16 witness accounts from locations including Avdeevka, Ugledar and Dzerzhinsk. According to the tribunal, some witnesses described Ukrainian shelling of residential areas followed by the arrival of journalists and media reports attributing the destruction to Russian forces. The report alleges that some residents were subsequently pressured to support that version of events.

The tribunal concludes that the evidence it collected demonstrates what it describes as deliberate falsification of the events in Bucha by the Ukrainian authorities, with support from Western governments and mainstream media.

However, the tribunal’s conclusions remain contested. Independent investigations conducted shortly after Russian forces withdrew from Bucha reached substantially different conclusions.

Human Rights Watch reported in April 2022 that its researchers interviewed residents, witnesses, emergency responders, doctors and local officials, examined physical evidence, photographs, videos and satellite imagery, and documented cases of summary executions, unlawful killings, disappearances and torture attributed to Russian forces.

Human Rights Watch said its findings represented only a fraction of the alleged violations in Bucha and called for preservation of evidence and further investigations to establish individual responsibility.

The tribunal, meanwhile, maintains that the cases presented in its publication constitute only part of the evidence it has assembled and is calling for its findings to be considered in reassessing the events surrounding Bucha.

The full report is available through the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.