WEBVTT - Made with VTT Creator 00:05.294 --> 00:20.702 position:50% align:middle He realized that a war was imminent; he understood this intellectually, but his heart did not believe it until the very end. On the 21st, he sent his family away, and was alone when he heard the first explosions. 00:20.702 --> 00:37.424 position:50% align:middle Putin shared all sorts of stories on the Internet. I went to the petrol station while it was still operating. There was no queue, so I filled the tank to the brim to give myself the freedom to manoeuvre, and then I stayed put. 00:37.424 --> 00:53.812 position:50% align:middle Despite the shelling, we continued to hold services. For example, on the 26th, which was a memorial day, we held a service under fire. We planned to hold another service on the 27th, but two hours before it was set to begin, 00:53.812 --> 01:09.220 position:50% align:middle a Russian column entered and shelled the church. Thankfully, no one was present, and everyone survived. After that, there were no more services. It is difficult for me to understand their [Russian] logic. 01:09.220 --> 01:24.717 position:50% align:middle Either they were aiming at the church or at something else, but they certainly hit the church first. The damage was evident from the broken windows and the damaged walls. It happened in the first minutes of their arrival in Bucha. 01:24.717 --> 01:42.623 position:50% align:middle Then they moved on, and our military disrupted their convoy on Vokzalna Street. Those photos are already famous all over the world. I did not wear my priestly clothes because among the occupiers there were many Chechens 01:42.623 --> 01:57.549 position:50% align:middle and Buryats—non-Christians—and I could not predict their mindset. Walking around in clerical attire would have been like waving a flag, attracting unnecessary attention. So, I dressed like an ordinary person. 01:57.549 --> 02:11.231 position:50% align:middle My encounters with the occupiers were only out of necessity. There were times when I was walking ahead of them, and they blocked my way, searching every house. I thought to myself, “What is my situation? Should I go after them, 02:11.231 --> 02:29.863 position:50% align:middle or turn around and go back? If I turn around, what if someone shoots?” So, I had to go towards them. That’s how I communicated with them. I had to pass by; I live a little farther away. I was searched. In short, some trivial things... 02:29.863 --> 02:43.082 position:50% align:middle They climbed into the upper church and broke a window. The windows downstairs were broken, and the ones upstairs are still broken.We have not yet been able to fix the windows upstairs. I don’t know why they went in there. 02:43.082 --> 03:02.435 position:50% align:middle You can see from the outside that there is nothing inside, and the building is not ready—there are no services there yet. Perhaps they were installing a sniper or something, but it’s hard for me to say. I was standing on the stairs of my house, 03:02.435 --> 03:17.034 position:50% align:middle talking on the phone, and I mentioned, “Listen, you can hear the explosions. And over my head...” I am a peaceful person. At that moment, I thought the first gunfire was overhead. So I pondered, “What should I do?” 03:17.034 --> 03:33.797 position:50% align:middle I hid in the garage to wait out the battle, which was about 200 meters from my house. However, the first impression was unexpected, that it was somewhere nearby. We no longer paid any attention to the planes flying overhead or the helicopters 03:33.797 --> 03:50.453 position:50% align:middle circling back to Hostomel airport. We had already gotten used to the sounds of tanks firing, it was okay unless it was right next to us. My first major impression was witnessing a battle nearby, with people lying dead in the streets. It was hard. 03:50.453 --> 04:08.738 position:50% align:middle The Russians showed no interest in these corpses; they did not clean them up nor did they allow anyone else to. According to conversations I’ve had, they came to the hospital looking for wounded Ukrainian military personnel or perhaps their own. 04:08.738 --> 04:27.968 position:50% align:middle They engaged with the doctors who inquired about the fact that there had been no electricity for two weeks and that nothing was functioning. With the cold weather, the bodies could lie on the street, but animals, including dogs, scavenged them. 04:27.968 --> 04:45.288 position:50% align:middle Something had to be done. I understand that the Russians eventually agreed, and the first burial took place on March 10th. In the morning, I spoke with someone during those days… I believe starting from the 9th, the so-called 04:45.288 --> 04:53.410 position:50% align:middle ‘green corridors’ were supposed to be opened for a few days. People were anticipating buses on the 9th, but they never arrived. People travelled on their own, forming a convoy of about 500 cars. I heard that they managed to pass through, 04:53.410 --> 05:09.445 position:50% align:middle taking significant risks. By the 10th, several thousand people were waiting for buses at the city council. The buses finally arrived, accompanied by the Emergency Service and Red Cross personnel. I was also at the city council 05:09.445 --> 05:23.237 position:50% align:middle and met with the head of our municipal funeral service, a man named Serhii Kaplychnyi. He said, “We had a conversation with the mayor, and we are deciding where to bury the people.” He asked me to come up to his office to talk. 05:23.237 --> 05:37.525 position:50% align:middle When I arrived, a proposal was made to use the church grounds as the burial site since it was the only available place next to the hospital and the morgue—about 400 meters away. On the 10th, due to the large number of local people plus 05:37.525 --> 05:48.072 position:50% align:middle representatives from the Red Cross and the Emergency Service and relatively few Russians present, the Russians behaved themselves. A tractor arrived, a trench was dug, and on the first day, I believe 67 people were buried. 05:48.072 --> 06:13.149 position:50% align:middle There was a second trench and a few additional individual burials. In total, 116 bodies were interred, including 30 women and 2 children. I also know that one policeman died, likely in the line of duty. 06:13.149 --> 06:28.797 position:50% align:middle There was space for a few Russian occupants as well; the Russians showed little interest in retrieving the bodies of their comrades and left them behind. The were children buries in a mass grave… In general, the story is that the family who fled Donbas during the 2014 war, 06:28.797 --> 06:54.664 position:50% align:middle bought a house here and lived in it. They bought a house just behind the church, about 20 meters from the mass grave site. They tried to flee around March 7. They barely made it a kilometre before their car was shot at with a 300-mm (large-calibre) 06:54.664 --> 07:07.734 position:50% align:middle machine gun or an automatic cannon from a BMD infantry fighting vehicle near UTEM in the city. Only the father survived; he managed to crawl away and hide behind a tree. After being taken to the hospital, his leg was amputated; the mother and two children, 07:07.734 --> 07:25.884 position:50% align:middle aged 9 and 4, died in the car. The vehicle later caught fire, and their remains were reburied about 20 days later virtually in front of their house. Many cars were fired upon, and even those with “children” written on them received no consideration. 07:25.884 --> 07:51.512 position:50% align:middle Numerous people died both in cars and on the streets. We only have a part of the deceased here; in Bucha, more than 400 people died—around 419, though I'm hesitant to provide an exact figure as it continues to rise with new discoveries. For instance, a week ago, 07:51.512 --> 08:14.868 position:50% align:middle bodies were found in a garage cooperative in Zdvyzhivka. When the garage was opened, at least two burned bodies were discovered. That's something that was found just the other day. This mass grave is the largest here, but overall, people were buried wherever possible— in squares, 08:14.868 --> 08:30.811 position:50% align:middle parks, and gardens. Even those who died of natural causes were buried nearby because the cemetery was located outside the city, and the Russians were shooting at anything that moved. This was the reason for their burial here. We are speaking only of the murders; 08:30.811 --> 09:04.863 position:50% align:middle we are not even discussing rapes, looting, and other crimes. They were furious that... The perpetrators, perhaps feeling insecure from the battles nearby, took out their anger and frustration on civilians. Fighting occurred just a kilometre and a half away, compounded by blown-up bridges; 09:04.863 --> 09:14.556 position:50% align:middle they were unable to proceed for over a month. And out of that anger, perhaps, they vented their rage in civilians. The exhumation took place in April. All the bodies were examined, and as far as I heard, more than 90% of the causes of death were due to bullet wounds. 09:14.556 --> 09:34.746 position:50% align:middle This suggests that these deaths were not accidental, as if a person was careless, did not hide, or appeared in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were deliberate killings. After the exhumation, the remains were buried again by their relatives, and around 70 bodies were interred as unidentified. 09:34.746 --> 09:57.889 position:50% align:middle Some of these so-called “unknowns” are actually known by name, but until the legal process is completed, they must remain classified that way. We hope that once there is victory, a memorial will be erected here. For now, there is a temporary cross where people 09:57.889 --> 10:18.381 position:50% align:middle can come to pray for the repose of those deceased. Memorial projects are already in development to honour their memories, so that future generations can learn that, remembering the war, they need to carry on and look forward. It is not the end. 10:18.381 --> 10:38.002 position:50% align:middle We have not yet summed up the results, and we are already looking back. The war is not over yet. Many of our parishioners have relatives, civilians, who were taken by the Russians through Belarus to Russia and are currently in captivity in prisons. 10:38.002 --> 10:48.838 position:50% align:middle Their families do not know how to secure their release. As far as I understand, they do not fall under the criteria for military exchanges. And we don't know how they can be extracted. These captives share the same psychological trauma and problems. 10:48.838 --> 11:02.928 position:50% align:middle Some relatives have died, and those families know where they are buried and pray for them. However, there are others whose loved ones are simply missing, and they understand that these individuals are most likely deceased, 11:02.928 --> 11:22.630 position:50% align:middle yet they do not know where their graves are located. There is also a group of individuals who have lost their homes, either entirely or partially. It’s important to find a way to connect with each of them individually. With some individuals, 11:22.630 --> 11:32.358 position:50% align:middle sometimes it’s best to simply be quiet and offer your presence. For others, you may need to discuss unrelated topics to help them escape their current state. In some cases, crying together can be a form of support. Each person requires a different approach.