It's only just very recently that this area was taken back by the Ukrainians
and already got this mammoth effort going on to clear a way,
this rubble from these apartments that have been destroyed.
And underneath they believe are still bunch of bodies
that they're trying to find.
It's been a long 10 weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Over 11 million Ukrainians have fled their homes.
Thousands of civilians have died.
Seems like there was a whole family.
There was sheltering in the basement when this bomb hit.
Under here, you can see just a mangled body that barely resembles a human at all.
In the north of the country, where Russian soldiers
have just recently retreated from, bodies are being exhumed
with signs of torture, rape and execution.
The Ukrainian government claims that these amounts to thousands of war crimes.
In early March, Russian soldiers arrived in the sleepy village of Yahidne,
just north of Kyiv, and set up base here.
That's where my classroom used to be.
Until just two months ago, this was 12-year-old Yulia's school.
It feels strange seeing my school all broken like this.
The teacher's desk was here.
And our drawings and craftwork were displayed there.
And this is body here?
Yes.
Some people died while we were in the basement.
They were mostly older people because there wasn't enough oxygen.
After arriving here, Russian soldiers went door to door taking hundreds of villagers
from their homes and bringing them to the school.
They forced them inside this basement where they stayed for 25 days.
The villagers believe they were used as human shields
to protect the Russian military unit from Ukrainian bombs.
What does this say on the door?
Careful, children.
Are you comfortable going down there?
I think so.
Are you sure?
Yes.
The floors was all covered with people
because there was nowhere else to sleep.
This is where I slept.
You're very brave.
I would've been absolutely terrified.
I was really scared
because we did not know why they brought us here or what they would do to us.
Well, it was not easy.
They were carrying out the bodies.
It was not cool to see that.
Did you do these drawings up here?
Yup, I drew this.
So, this is Russia against Ukraine, and Ukraine wins.
No one knows exactly how many passed away while the Russians were here.
The imprisoned villagers tried to keep count.
Scratched into the wall to the right of this door
are the names of the elderly who died.
On the left are some of those who were killed.
That list includes Anatoli Yannick or Tolik, as he's known,
a neighbor of Yulia's.
When I hear a window or door closing, I get stressed.
We haven't exhaled yet.
It'll take a long time.
Tolik is Katerina's nephew.
We came home and the house was trashed.
The dishes were broken.
They broke the washing machine.
They opened drawers and shat in them.
These are not people, no way.
I don't know how where Putin dug them out from.
Savages.
Oh, wow, there's a lot of weaponry here.
Their heavy artillery stood there.
There were their tanks, armored personnel carriers.
They fortified this place as their defensive position.
What about your family?
What happened with your nephew?
My nephew was home one evening.
It was the same day they entered the village.
They told him, lie down.
And Tolik answered, I'm on my own land.
Why should I lie down?
And they shot him.
And what about your son?
He was here at the same time, right?
They tortured him all night,
because they found out his National Guard uniform in his closet.
I started screaming, begging.
That's the worst thing that's ever happened to me.
Sorry for my tears.
Katerina's son Sergei is still in hospital recovering from torture.
Her nephew, Anatoli has been buried.
We obtained his death certificate which states that he was shot in the head.
When the Russians finally left Katerina's home, I forgot to take with them
possible evidence of who they are, like pay slips for the soldiers.
So, these are documents that you found when you came back home?
Their records, yes.
Here is one.
It's not a long list.
These are probably the ones who lived here.
We spoke to over a dozen locals.
All of them said the Russian soldiers
occupying this area were of Asian appearance.
Some said the fighters told them they came from the Russian republic of Tuva.
But as books were also left behind.
Based on the documents, Katerina and others found social media searches
brought up multiple matches for these names and soldiers linked to them
that we were unable to verify their identities.
We sent Russia's Ministry of Defense these names
and asked if their soldiers had taken an entire village hostage,
killing the elderly and executing the disobedient.
We're still waiting for their response.
When they staged provocations is Syria, it turned out to be fake.
It's the same kind of fake in Bucha.
The Russian Government has publicly denied that war crimes have been committed,
calling it fake news.
We wanted to speak to someone in Russia
currently waiting to be deployed to understand their willingness to fight
for a government accused of these atrocities.
We contacted an individual currently serving with Russia's National Guard
who spoke to us because we agreed to hide his identity.
So, you're waiting for a command to go to the front lines.
I mean, how are you feeling about that?
Yes, we are all waiting for the command.
This is straightforward defense of the motherland.
I am ready to do it.
Just today, we met children who had been taken hostage.
We met people who had been taken hostage.
We met family members
whose loved ones had been shot in the head at point blank range.
I don't know anything about people held in basements.
Anything can happen, it's war.
And about the executions, people can say whatever they want.
People can invent anything.
They pretend that the Russian army kills civilians.
I will never believe in this Ukrainian propaganda.
You say that you want to defend your country,
you want to fight for your country.
Is it worth all the bloodshed?
Is it worth all the Ukrainian lives that are going to be lost from this?
The safety of my country is the most important thing for me.
War is impossible without victims.
Everyone understands this.
Over the last month, Russia has withdrawn its forces from around Kyiv
and instead sent thousands of troops to Ukraine's east, the Donbas region.
A full-scale assault has been launched on this area,
which has deep historical and cultural ties to Russia.
We're with a group of volunteers who are heading into a little town
called Donetsk to try and evacuate some people.
You can see on this map here
that this whole area is now surrounded on three sides by Russians.
This could be one of the last chances for these guys to get out.
What was that?
There is constant shelling.
Right here. Stop, stop.
Where's the basement?
Where's the stretcher?
It's really insane situation here.
The shelling is literally on top of a city- shit.
It's just a mad scramble to get people out of here quickly as possible.
Come on.
It's the last day, guys. Seriously.
We haven't been out there in two months.
You're shaking.
-Oh, my God, look at you. -It'll pass.
We need to go.
Coming, coming.
Here in the square, you have to turn left.
Let me help.
Is that everyone?
Thank you.
When the volunteers come knocking,
residents have to decide in a matter of minutes
if they'll leave their homes along with everyone and everything know.
We are evacuating.
You have 10 minutes to pack up.
I'm going to ask my neighbor if she wants to leave.
Come on, we have 10 minutes to pack.
Go where?
Who needs us?
Ukraine needs you.
I do, That's why I'm here.
Come on.
No.
Come on, please.
You'll come back when it calms down.
Who knows?
It's really crazy given just the level of fear
that these people are having to live with.
And still, there's just so much reluctance to leave your home,
to leave everything you know.
Come on.
I'm just scared.
I don't know what will happen next.
I can't imagine how traumatic these last couple of months have been.
I feel that I am already dead without my city.
This is your granddaughter?
This is my granddaughter.
I saw bombs exploding.
There was smoke.
Were you scared that something might happen to your family?
I was scared for everyone.
For those who stay, life has moved almost entirely underground.
Where will people go after this?
There won't be anything to go back to.
Everything will be destroyed.
It's not just fear that people live with, there's also deep divisions among them.
Many families here in the east come from both sides of the border.
Why is it that you're not leaving?
I mean, the bombs are continuing to fall.
We don't have the money to go to.
Young people, if they have money, can go somewhere.
Not us. We are old with no health or money.
What happens if Russia does take this region?
We will just live.
Do you mind if Russia does take this area?
Why not?
They're Russian lands.
They gave them to Ukraine during Lenin's time.
Be quiet.
What nonsense.
I believe he is the elder brother.
How can Putin be our brother?
Even before the war, Putin wasn't our brother.
We are a different country.
We are Ukraine.
They are Russia.
He came here to kill, not liberate.
How can Putin our brother and bomb is?
As you can see, the opinions are different.
These pockets of pro-Russian sentiments are making the Ukrainian authorities
nervous that own people could betray them.
At a nearby police station, officers have captured locals
would they believe of working for the other side.
So, this guy who is a Russian prisoner of war, they're telling us.
And they say that they've been able to catch
quite a number of people that are either working directly with the Russians
or spying the Russian Government here.
I'm interested in how you passed the information.
I didn't pass the information.
They asked me, but I didn't take part in it.
Okay. I'm interested in your connection to employees of Ministry of State Security
in the Donetsk People's Republic.
So, this police officer has just started his interrogation process.
He has a suspected saboteur and they suspect
that she's providing information to the Russians.
The police showed us the suspected spy's phone.
No way.
That's the password, a Z?
Yes, Z. Yes.
And here's the message thread she was using.
It's a message thread with her coordinator.
He gives her some tasks she has to complete
to get him some specific information.
Later on, the detainee agreed to speak with us.
What do you think will happen to you now?
What's next depends on the situation.
Some people said they would execute me.
Others were talking about a 20-year sentence.
Depends on how this conflict ends.
That's why I need to pray Russia wins.
I mean, can you understand that given what Russia is doing to millions of Ukrainians
living in these conditions, suffering under these conditions in this war,
that there'll be a lot of anger to you for expressing that?
Everyone is against war.
I don't want people to die.
But it's not up to me.
If Ukraine weren't entering NATO, Russia wouldn't come here.
For most Ukrainians,
the fact that our people helping the opposition is a hard pill to swallow.
Russia's offensive is relentless and unforgiving.
The human cost immeasurable.
Just a few weeks ago, Alexander Olhovik encouraged his 11-year-old daughter Alyssa
and pregnant wife Marina to evacuate their home.
They packed up their lives and boarded the train in Kramatorsk.
Just at that moment, several guided missiles hit the station.
Both Alyssa and her mother died, along with 57 other civilians.
Alexander has only just retrieved their bodies.
When will it end?
We've seen so many deaths at this point, so many funerals.
But the horrors of this war just keep getting worse.
Alexander was trying to send his family away to safety
and he's facing just this heart wrenching task of having to burry them.
What did we do wrong?
I thought my daughter would grow up, that I would see grandchildren.
But it turned out the wrong way, somehow.
What was she like?
She was like her dad.
She was a little tomboy.
Always the center of attention.
Wherever she was, there was noise.
Like a hydrogen bomb, so much energy.
But someone destroyed that energy
and I don't know what to do now.
I'm sorry, my daughter.
You'll understand your dad.
You'll forgive me.
Liska.
Daddy loves you.
Farewell, dear. Farewell.
I don't know whether it can be forgiven.
Sleep, my daughter.
Daddy loves you.
Daddy loves you lots.