In a decree, the Russian president praised the “great professionalism” of the military, which the Ukrainian authorities accuse of being involved in the massacre of civilians in this city near Kyiv.
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Posted on 4/18/2022 7:35 PM Updated on 4/18/2022 10:18 PM
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His name is associated with the abuses of Boutcha (Ukraine) near Kyiv. In fact, on Monday, April 18, the 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade received the honorary title of Guards in a decree signed by Vladimir Putin himself. “The skillful and resolute actions of all (brigade) personnel during the special military operation in Ukraine is a paragon of fulfillment of military duties, courage, determination and high professionalism,” the Russian president wrote to the military.
The discovery of the bodies of civilians in the streets of this town shortly after the withdrawal of Russian soldiers had sparked a wave of international outrage in early April. Ukrainian investigators are still working there to collect elements of “war crimes”. For its part, Russia had denied any war crimes and, on the contrary, had asserted that the Ukrainian authorities and Western media staged the massacre or committed it by the Ukrainian armed forces in order to blame Moscow.
Days after the discovery of the bodies littering the streets of Boutcha, Ukrainian activists identified Azatbek Omurbeko as the leader of Russian units present in the town north of Kyiv, where hundreds of civilians were massacred in the middle of the street.