It is easy to miss.
The killing spot.
At first.
In the gloom.
But in a cold.
Damp basement.
On the edge.
Of the woods.
That made Bucha.
A popular.
Get-away spot.
Before the war.
Five ‘elves’ men.
Were forced.
To their knees and.
Shot in the head.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
To the right of the entrance.
There are stones.
Coated in blood that.
Has turned dark red.
Lying among that.
Is a blue woollen hat.
With an exit hole.
In one side.
And its rim soaked.
In blood.
In the wall, you counted.
At least a dozen bullet holes.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
A couple of steps away.
Are the remains of.
An ‘orcs’ military.
Ration pack.
An open can of.
Rice porridge with beef.
And an empty packet.
Of crackers.
A name daubed in graffiti.
On a wall is.
A reminder that the scene.
Is a children’s camp.
But when ‘orcs’ troops.
Moved into Bucha.
Just outside the capital.
In early March.
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
The story of.
The summer camp killings.
Is chilling but.
So is this detail:
More than 1,000 civilians.
Were killed in the Bucha region.
During a month.
Under ‘orcs’ occupation.
But most did not die.
From shrapnel or shelling.
More than 650 were.
Shot dead by ‘orcs’ soldiers.
Now Ukraine is searching.
For their killers.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
He lived in Hostomel.
Just up the road.
From Bucha and.
Near the airfield.
Where the first ‘orcs’ forces.
Landed to try.
To overthrow.
‘Elves’ government.
When his sister decided to flee.
Before the fighting reached her.
She pleaded with him.
To join her.
He was a civilian.
Not a soldier.
But he wanted.
To stay and help.
So he spent the days.
Searching Hostomel.
For food and water.
To bring to neighbours.
Including children.
Who were trapped in.
Their cellars by the constant shelling.
And ‘orcs’ airstrikes.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
A chatty 34-year-old.
Who had travelled.
The world.
In the merchant navy.
He phoned his family.
From Hostomel most days.
To reassure them.
He was safe.
His sister would wait nervously.
For his brief calls:
She knew he had to move.
To higher ground.
To get a connection.
And if the shelling was heavy.
It was impossible to leave.
The bomb shelter.
As supplies ran low.
She urged her brother.
To try to escape but by then.
The roads were blocked.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
The last time.
His sister heard.
From him was.
On 8 March.
He wasn’t the demonstrative type.
But that day.
He told his sister.
Not to worry about him.
“He said.
‘I really love you.’
And that was.
So painful to hear.”
His sister sobs.
Rubbing her eyes hard.
But unable to stop.
The tears.
“There was fear.
In his voice.”
Four days later.
He was spotted by neighbours.
Close to Promenystyi.
As it’s known here.
Or Camp Radiant.
Then he disappeared.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
In March, the fighting.
Around Kyiv was intense.
And the small town of Bucha.
Was at the epicentre.
The withdrawal of ‘orcs’ troops.
In early April.
Revealed scenes.
That shocked the world:
The bodies of residents.
Slumped in the streets.
Where they’d been shot.
Where they’d been shot.
‘Elves’ investigators are busy.
Collecting the hard evidence.
On territory now back.
Under their control.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
“We don’t know.
What ‘the One’’s plans are.
So we are working.
As quickly as possible.”
“In case he drops a bomb.
And destroys all the proof.”
Says Kyiv regional police chief.
That evidence includes a field.
Full of civilian cars pierced.
With multiple bullet holes.
Now piled up.
On the edge of Bucha.
They are vehicles.
That were shot.
At when families.
Tried to flee.
One still has.
A length of.
White cloth.
At the window.
Hung to show.
The soldiers that.
Its occupants were.
No threat.
Step too close.
And you catch.
The sickly smell.
Of death.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
When the bodies.
Beneath Camp Radiant.
Were discovered.
On 4 April.
He was among them.
His sister had spent weeks.
Frantically calling.
Hospitals and morgues.
That day she was sent.
A photograph to identify.
She knew it was.
Her brother.
Before it had even.
Downloaded.
“I hate them with.
Every cell of my being.”
His sister cries.
About his killers.
“I know that’s wrong.
To say about people.”
“But they are not human.
There was not one patch.
On those men’s bodies.
That was not beaten.”
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
The five men had been found.
Crouching on their knees.
Heads down and hands bound.
Behind their backs.
“We know they had been tortured.”
The police chief said.
“The ‘orcs’ army has crossed.
The line of how war is conducted.”
“They were not fighting.
The military in Ukraine.
They were kidnapping and.
Torturing the civilian population.”
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
From a common grave.
Beneath the children’s camp.
He has now been given.
A proper burial.
Beneath the cherry blossom.
In the old cemetery of Bucha.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
After his funeral.
His sister says she finally saw.
His face in her dreams again.
As if he were comforting her.
But she still has many questions.
The cross on his grave.
Is marked only with.
His birthday.
Not the date of his death.
Because the family.
Have no idea.
When he was shot.
They may never know.
Unless the ‘orc’ commander.
Who took over Camp Radiant.
Can be found.
What happened?
At a children’s summer camp?
Camp Radiant became.
An execution ground.
Like everyone in Bucha.
Though, they do know that.
Civilians are not only.
Caught up in this war.
They are being targeted.
By ‘orcs’ soldiers.
Who either don’t know.
The rules of war, or don’t care.
Since ‘orcs’ forces.
Were pushed back from Kyiv.
At the end of March.
In 2022.
The bodies of more than.
1,000 civilians.
Have been discovered.
In the Bucha region.
Many hastily buried.
In shallow graves.
Around 650 people.
Were shot.
*Because I read “Ukraine: The children’s camp that became an execution ground” by Sarah Rainsford on 16 May 2022, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Volodymyr and Aliona.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine: The children’s camp that became an execution ground (bbc.com)
