The conversations can be linked to specific photographs of dead bodies that have circulated around the world, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s polskieradio.pl website reported, citing Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine.
In one of the messages, a Russian service member tells another that he and his comrades-in-arms have shot a man riding a bicycle, according to the German magazine, as quoted by polskieradio.pl.
Another intercept features a man who says Russian troops are interrogating civilians and then shooting at them, polskieradio.pl reported, citing Der Spiegel.
‘Premeditated atrocities’
According to the German weekly, the radio conversations sound matter-of-fact and suggest the atrocities in Bucha and other towns around Kyiv “weren’t committed by individual soldiers gone mad,” polskieradio.pl said.
Based on the intercepts, the killings “seem to have been premeditated,” Der Spiegel reported, according to polskieradio.pl.
Commentators say this indicates that civilian killings are part of Russia’s military strategy, similarly to previous wars, polskieradio.pl reported.
On Wednesday, messages intercepted by the German intelligence agency were presented to lawmakers in the country's parliament, Der Spiegel said, as cited by polskieradio.pl.
They are more proof that the massacres in Bucha and nearby areas have been perpetrated by Russian soldiers, polskieradio.pl said.
Germany’s security agencies possess solid evidence of similar atrocities taking place in other parts of Ukraine, although their exact locations are yet to be unequivocally established, Der Spiegel reported, as quoted by polskieradio.pl.
Thursday is day 43 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: polskieradio.pl, spiegel.de