Initial fighting February On 25 February, due a lack of communications with the main invasion command and over-optimistic planning, a convoy of
OMON and
SOBR units from
Kemerovo Oblast accidentally separated from the invasion forces and ended up charging at Kyiv by themselves. As the convoy cruised through Bucha it was ambushed at a bridge over the
Irpin River, and the unarmored and under-equipped units were completely destroyed. Reportedly, of the 80 soldiers in the convoy, only 3 wounded men survived. On 27 February, Russian ground forces advanced into Bucha. The Russian force was composed of
paratroopers, tanks,
military engineering units, and reserves from the
36th Combined Arms Army. Russian artillery bombarded the city, damaging several buildings and infrastructure. Some residents lost access to water, gas, and electricity due to the shelling. A Russian armored unit was recorded attacking a memorial for the
War in Afghanistan in Bucha; the memorial is shaped like an
APC.
Andriy Tsaplienko, a Ukrainian journalist, later reported that Russian forces attacked a civilian vehicle, killing a man and injuring another. is hit by a Russian missile. Ukrainian forces used rocket and artillery bombardments and airstrikes to halt the Russian advances into Bucha. Ukrainian forces destroyed a bridge connecting Bucha and Irpin, killing an OMON officer and preventing Russian forces from advancing into Irpin. Later on 27 February, Ukrainian authorities warned the residents of Bucha not to get on buses that were evacuating out of the city and asked them to remain hidden inside their homes, as Ukrainian officials had not initiated any evacuation procedures. Ukrainian officials claimed that it was part of a plan by Russian forces, wherein the Russians would use the civilians as
human shields by following behind the buses, in order to gain entry into Kyiv. On 28 February 2022,
Anatoliy Fedoruk, the mayor of Bucha, published a video showing smoldering Russian vehicles. Fedoruk claimed that the Ukrainians suffered no casualties from the skirmish.
March On 1 March, photos of destroyed and abandoned Russian equipment began circulating through Ukrainian news media, with some describing Bucha as a graveyard for the destroyed Russian equipment. On 2 March 2022, the Ukrainian government began sending
humanitarian aid towards Bucha. The following day, the
Kyiv Oblast State Administration announced evacuations in both Bucha and Irpin. More than 1,500 women and children were reported to have evacuated by train, while 250 were evacuated by bus. Ukrainian officials reported that the evacuations were complicated as some railway tracks had been destroyed during fighting. Later on 3 March, the
Ukrainian Ground Forces announced that Ukrainian forces recaptured Bucha, posting a video of Ukrainian soldiers raising the
Ukrainian flag near the city council building. Ukrainian emergency teams restored electricity to the city. On 4 March 2022, Fedoruk confirmed that the city remained under Ukrainian control, despite Russian forces continuously launching attacks. Russian forces killed three unarmed Ukrainian civilians who had just delivered dog food to a
dog shelter and were on their way back home in a car. By 5 March 2022, Russian forces continued to attack Bucha. Later, Arestovych stated that Russian forces had captured both Bucha and Hostomel, and were not allowing civilians to evacuate. At around 7:15 am that day, a pair of cars carrying two families were spotted by Russian soldiers who proceeded to open fire at the convoy, killing a man in the second vehicle. The front car was hit by gunfire, setting it on fire and killing two children and their mother. On the same day,
Oleksandr Kyslyuk, a scholar fluent in 20 languages, translator into Ukrainian of Aristotle,
Tacitus and
Aquinas and many other classical sources, was killed when a Russian tank targeted his home in Bucha. On 6 March 2022, Russia intensified its shelling of the city, resulting in some civilian casualties. The Bucha City Council reported that civilians were taking shelter in basements, and that the city was unable to receive humanitarian aid due to the constant bombardment.
Radio Svoboda reported that the occupied city was running out of supplies and that Russian soldiers were killing civilians. The following day, Russian forces deployed three armored units at Bucha, in preparation for an advance towards Irpin. Later, , the former mayor of Irpin, stated that Russian forces had destroyed the Glass Plastic and Fiber Research Institute in Bucha, releasing fumes of
acetone and other chemicals. On 8 March 2022, Fedoruk stated that Ukrainian forces were still fighting in Bucha and had managed to regain territory. He also stated that Russian forces held control of all main highways in the city, intensified shelling, and would not allow residents of Bucha to leave their homes. Later on 8 March, the Russian occupiers allowed civilians to go outside for a limited period of time in order to remove bodies and cook food. The city still did not have electricity, as Russian forces held all of the
electrical substations. On 9 March 2022, Ukrainian forces conducted a large-scale evacuation across
Kyiv Oblast, including in Bucha. Up to 20,000 civilians were evacuated in Kyiv Oblast. The Kyiv Oblast State Administration described the situation in Bucha as tense amidst the fighting and evacuation. On 12 March 2022, the Bucha City Council announced that Russian forces had fully occupied the city. The council stated that the Russian forces would not allow residents to leave their homes, and would sometimes shoot at civilians. Despite the takeover, some civilians were able to successfully evacuate from the city in a convoy of 20 buses.
Russian control On 13 March, residents buried 67 people in a
mass grave near a church in Bucha. Those buried were killed by Russian artillery, and some bodies could not be identified. Later, some Russian soldiers were seen looting houses in the city. By 15 March, Russian forces began occupying the city hall and had captured employees at the building. The civilians were released the following day. Meanwhile,
Obozrevatel published a video showing abandoned Russian armored vehicles parked in residential driveways and garages. On 16 March, according to the Ukrainian military, its forces launched a counter-attack against Russian-held locations around Kyiv, including in Bucha. On 22 March, the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration,
Oleksandr Pavlyuk, stated that Bucha and Hostomel were under the control of the Russian army and that no Ukrainian offensive actions could be taken there at the time. The main task of the Ukrainian military was to prevent Russian forces from crossing the
Irpin River.
Ukraine regains control On 29 March, Russian Deputy Defence Minister
Alexander Fomin announced that the Russian military would reduce its activity near Kyiv and Chernihiv. By 31 March, Ukrainian forces were moving into Bucha amid a general Russian withdrawal in the area, resulting in heavy fighting with local Russian troops. The following day, Oleksandr Pavliuk, head of the Ukrainian military administration for the Kyiv region, announced that the Bucha district had mostly been retaken. According to him, Russian troops were trying to retreat, while the Ukrainians kept attacking them. Combat continued north of Bucha and in the Hostomel–Bucha–Vorzel axis. ==Mass killings in Bucha==