02 Apr, 2025 - Andriy Dubchak

The first photos from liberated Bucha: then and now

The streets are strewn with the bodies of killed civilians and littered with burnt iron, which Russian equipment has turned into. All around, battered houses have been destroyed. This is what Bucha looked like when the first journalists entered the city after its liberation from the occupiers on April 2, 2022. Among them was a Frontliner reporter who managed to get across the Romanivskyi Bridge.

Bucha was not yet completely safe, and the Russian army had only recently retreated. The military, rescuers of the State Emergency Service, and residents warned journalists that there might be remnants of enemy forces in the city.

However, thoughts about their own safety dissipated as soon as the consequences of the occupiers’ crimes became apparent.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers were combing the streets in search of Russian soldiers, and the first cars with food and humanitarian aid were beginning to arrive in the town.
This photo gallery from liberated Bucha shows what the town looked like immediately after de-occupation and what these same places looked like in 2025. This comparison of Bucha then and now captures not only the traces of war but also shows the process of recovery and proves that life goes on despite everything.

A man stands and looks down on the Irpin River from the Romanivskyi Bridge, April 1, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
Memorial - Romanivskyi Bridge over the Irpin River, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Ukrainian soldiers walk across the Romanivskyi Bridge towards the liberated Irpin, April 2, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
Memorial - Romanivskyi Bridge over the Irpin River, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Bodies of murdered civilians at the intersection of Yablunska and Vokzalna streets, Bucha, April 2, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
The intersection of Yablunska and Vokzalna streets, Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

A barricade erected by the Russian military at the railway crossing in Bucha on Yablunska Street, April 4, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
Railway crossing in Bucha on Yablunska Street, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Bodies of killed civilians at the intersection of Yablunska and Nazariy Yaremchuk streets, Bucha. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
At the intersection of Yablunska and Nazariy Yaremchuk streets, Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

A view from liberated Bucha to the first streets of Irpin, where the front line used to be, April 4, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
View from Bucha to the first streets of Irpin, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Destroyed Russian artillery and Russian shells in liberated Bucha on Nazariy Yaremchuk Street, April 4, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
Nazariy Yaremchuk Street, Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Residents of Bucha receive the first humanitarian aid near the ATB store at the intersection of Nazariy Yaremchuk and Tarasivska streets, April 2, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
ATB store at the intersection of Nazariy Yaremchuk and Tarasivska streets, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

The body of a murdered civilian in liberated Bucha on Nazariy Yaremchuk Street, April 4, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
Nazariy Yaremchuk Street, Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

The entrance to a residential complex on Oleksiy Tykhyi Lane in liberated Bucha, April 4, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
The entrance to a residential complex on Oleksii Tykhyi Lane in Bucha, March 28, 2025-2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Nazariy Yaremchuk Street, Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

A burned column of Russian military equipment on Vokzalna Street, Bucha, April 2, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
Vokzalna Street in Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Burned Russian equipment on Vokzalna Street in front of school No. 3, Bucha, April 2, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
School No. 3, intersection of Vokzalna and Sadova streets, Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

A woman with humanitarian aid near a traffic circle on Zhovtneva Street in liberated Bucha, April 2, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
Traffic circle on Zhovtneva Street in Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Burned Russian equipment on Vokzalna Street near the intersection with Shevchenko Street, Bucha, April 2, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
A beauty salon on Vokzalna Street near the intersection with Shevchenko Street, Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Exhumation of the bodies of murdered civilians near the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called and All Saints in liberated Bucha, April 12, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
A worker cleans the area near the Church of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called and All Saints in liberated Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Exhumation of the bodies of murdered civilians near the Church of St. Andrew the First-Called and All Saints in liberated Bucha, April 12, 2022. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner
A worker cleans the area near the Church of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called and All Saints in liberated Bucha, March 28, 2025. Photo: Andriy Dubchak / Frontliner

Author: Andriy Dubchak