Budanov says Russia planned genocide in Ukraine in 2022, starting with executions of teachers, journalists, and clergy

Russia planned execution lists, mobile crematoriums, and mass graves before launching its all-out war on Ukraine as Moscow prepared genocide against the Ukrainian people, said the Head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov, at a forum dedicated to Russia’s genocidal practices against Ukrainians, including the Holodomor.

The Holodomor, a famine that struck Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933, stands as one of the most devastating events in Ukrainian history, resulting in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians. The Soviet regime orchestrated this artificial famine under Joseph Stalin, who implemented extreme grain procurement policies that led to widespread starvation. The policies aimed to suppress Ukrainian nationalism and resistance to Soviet control. In 2006, Ukraine officially recognized the Holodomor as genocide against the Ukrainian people. The designation has been supported by numerous countries, although it remains contested by some, notably Russia.

The forum, titled “Russia’s Genocidal Practices in Ukraine: From the Holodomor to the Russo-Ukrainian War,” took place on 22 November 2024, the day before Ukraine commemorates the victims of the 1932-1933 artificial famine in 2024. Holodomor researchers, historians, public figures, and international guests attended the event.

Speaking at the event, Budanov emphasized that Russia’s current military-political leadership deliberately prepared for genocide long before launching its all-out war in 2022. He pointed to a July 2021 article by Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, where he once again denied Ukraine’s right to exist as a nation.

“Russia’s propaganda, its highest state bodies, officials, and the entire state apparatus, following such directives from their leader, repeatedly called for the extermination of Ukrainians,” Budanov said.

The military intelligence chief noted that anti-Ukrainian sentiment has permeated all levels of Russian society.

“Genocide against Ukrainians is not only a state policy of Russia but also an enforced societal conviction imposed from the top,” Budanov stated.

Before the outbreak of the war in 2022, Russian occupiers were instructed on how to organize mass graves.

“Execution lists were to include Ukrainian language, literature, and history teachers, veterans of the Donbas war, journalists, scholars, writers, clergy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and other pro-Ukrainian denominations, public and political figures, as well as officials from state and local government bodies,” Budanov revealed.

Evidence of such orders and practices can be seen across occupied territories of Ukraine.

“We witnessed horrific mass crimes against Ukrainian citizens that shocked the world.

The atrocities committed by Russian forces in Borodianka, Bucha, Hostomel, Izium, Mariupol, and numerous other towns and villages across Ukraine demonstrate that these synchronized actions were rooted in the clear doctrinal principles of Russia’s genocidal policy,” Budanov concluded.

Earlier, the Center for National Resistance said that Russian authorities in occupied territories of Ukraine were preparing repressions against those commemorating the victims of the Holodomor in Ukraine.

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