Ukrainian woman embraces her sister in Bucha after losing contact

You’re alive! Emotional moment Ukrainian woman embraces her sister in Bucha after losing contact with her at the beginning of the invasion

  • Vladyslava Liubarets held her sister in an emotional embrace in Bucha, Ukraine 
  • She had been separated from her sister since the invasion began in February 
  • Ukrainian officials are gathering evidence of Russian atrocities across cities

A woman reunited with her sister after the pair was separated at the start of Russia’s invasion shared an emotional embrace amid devastating scenes in war-torn Bucha yesterday.

Vladyslava Liubarets passed by damaged Russian military equipment in the town, northwest of Kyiv, which has been retaken by Ukraine’s army.

The brief moment of reprieve is one marred by the distressing accounts emerging from Bucha in the wake of Russian troops’ withdrawal.  

Vladyslava Liubarets (right) shared an emotional embrace with her sister in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv

The horrific images and stories tumbling out of such Ukrainian towns bear witness to depravity on a scale recalling the barbarities of Cambodia, the Balkans, World War II.

Ukrainian officials are currently gathering evidence of Russian atrocities in Bucha and other cities, amid signs Moscow’s troops killed people indiscriminately before retreating.

Ukrainian authorities said the bodies of least 410 civilians were found in towns around Kyiv, victims of what President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a Russian campaign of murder, rape, dismemberment and torture.

Some victims had apparently been shot at close range and some were found with their hands bound.

Ms Liubarets passed by damaged Russian military equipment in the town, northwest of Kyiv, which has been retaken by Ukraine’s army

Zelensky also accused Russia of interfering with an international investigation into possible war crimes by removing bodies and trying to hide other evidence in Bucha, north west of Kyiv.

‘We have information that the Russian troops have changed tactics and are trying to remove the dead people, the dead Ukrainians, from the streets and cellars of territory they occupied,’ he said during his latest video address.

‘This is only an attempt to hide the evidence and nothing more.’

Switching from Ukrainian to Russian, Zelensky urged ordinary Russians ‘to somehow confront the Russian repressive machine’ instead of being ‘equated with the Nazis for the rest of your life’.

Ms Liubarets (centre), a Bucha resident, walks with her family past destroyed Russian military machinery, to meet her sister

Bucha resident Ms Liubarets (centre-right) hugs her sister, who she had not seen since the beginning of the war

He called on Russians to demand an end to the war ‘if you have even a little shame about what the Russian military is doing in Ukraine’.

Buchans are now left to deal with the aftermath of the massacre amid the reports of corpses strewn across the streets and images showing collapsed buildings and broken homes. 

Speaking to the Kyiv Independent, resident Halyna Opalat said: ‘Why do they hate us so much? Why? Because we’re a nation?

‘This used to be such a beautiful city. Now it’s frightening to look at. My soul hurts.’

Lyudmila Khoda, 79, told the outlet she would hear frequent stories of people her neighbours knew being killed.

‘They were very ferocious,’ she added.  

Today the United Nations General Assembly suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over reports of ‘gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights’ by invading Russian troops in Ukraine.

The push, led by the US, won 93 votes in favour to suspend Russia, while 24 countries voted no and 58 countries abstained.

Residents look at destroyed Russian military machinery on the street, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army, northwest of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 6

A two-thirds majority of voting members – excluding abstentions – was needed to suspend Russia from the 47-member council.

The vote followed allegations that Russian troops systematically executed civilians in Bucha alongside other reports of human rights abuses since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24. 

Ukraine’s UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya introduced the resolution before the 193 members of the General Assembly vote as he urged UN members to suspend Russia.

A member of the Ukrainian army stands next to a mass grave in front of an Orthodox church, in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 6

A man pushes his bike through debris and destroyed Russian military vehicles on a street on April 6 in Bucha, Ukraine

He said: ‘Russia’s actions are beyond the pale. Russia is not only committing human rights violations, it is shaking the underpinnings of international peace and security.’

China was one of the 24 countries to vote ‘no’, with China’s ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun saying: ‘We oppose double standards and oppose exerting pressure on other countries in the name of human rights.’

Russia has denied claims that its forces are behind the atrocities understood to have taken place in Bucha. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a news briefing yesterday that images of dead civilians in the town were fake and published in order to justify further sanctions by the West against Moscow and ‘to complicate, if not completely disrupt, (peace) talks’.

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