Photo/Illutration Workers dig up remains from a makeshift grave in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 13. (Tetsuro Takehana)

BUCHA, Ukraine--Residents in this horror-filled city said their connection to Russia likely led to their survival during the monthlong occupation by increasingly brutal Russian troops.

Images of corpses left out in public in Bucha have heightened allegations that Russia is committing war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.

One area with an especially high number of fatalities was Ivana Franka Street.

At least seven people who lived along the street were killed, and four other residents on side streets were also found dead.

Surviving residents said different Russian troops came to the neighborhood every few days or so.

They said the first contingent who checked the interiors of homes in the area were relatively mild-mannered.

A 54-year-old bank security guard recalled how one Russian soldier even tried to pay him for damaging his car window.

But the next contingent was more brutal. After their arrival, shots often rang out, and in early March, bodies were found on the street.

The bank security guard said he did not know why he was spared.

“I don’t know what the difference was,” he said. “I guess I was lucky.”

Others said the difference in treatment depended on whether the civilians had a direct connection to Russia.

A former nurse, 70, said troops entered her home, but they did nothing once she showed them her Russian passport and talked to them in Russian.

“But young people who spoke Ukrainian were killed one after another,” she said.

A 39-year-old electrician who lives near Ivanka Franka Street said his home was searched by Russian troops. When his elderly mother told them that she had relatives in Russia, the soldiers told her that they would not harm civilians.

After the Russian troops left Bucha, the electrician found that a neighbor and a childhood friend were among those killed during the occupation.

The Genocide Convention defines genocide as an intentional act to destroy groups based on nation, ethnicity, race or religion. The number of those killed is not taken into consideration.

Russian troops could be accused of genocide if they killed people after identifying them as Ukrainian.

(This article was written by Norito Kunisue and Tetsuro Takehana.)

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