They were mothers, fathers, children and grandparents. Their lives became intertwined by a tragic fate: For weeks in March, their bodies would lie along a single street in Bucha.

The photographs of these victims, published widely after Bucha was liberated, became emblematic of the indiscriminate way Russia would wage war in towns and cities across the country.

Russian officials denied that their soldiers killed civilians in Bucha. They claimed that the images of the bodies were “fake”.

The New York Times has identified 36 of the victims along Yablunska Street. We spoke to dozens of family members, friends and colleagues in Bucha to identify the people in the photographs — and used satellite imagery, cellphone videos, social media posts and text messages to retrace their final moments.

Their stories reveal how simple acts of survival — and a turn down a single street — put them in the path of their Russian killers.

The streets of Bucha were calm on the morning of March 3. Technicians were fixing downed power lines, and families were out buying groceries.

The quiet was punctured just before 1 p.m., when a convoy of Russian vehicles arrived on Yablunska Street.

Volodymyr Ruchkovskyi needed to do one last thing before he could leave Bucha.

His father, who was staying behind, was without food and electricity, so he brought him groceries and said one last goodbye.

On the drive back, Volodymyr realized the Ukrainian checkpoint guards who had been stationed near his home since the start of the war were no longer there. The 50-year-old elevator technician and his partner, Olena, packed their bags, pulled out of the driveway and drove west.

Volodymyr didn’t know that the occupation of Bucha had just begun, or that he was now driving toward a convoy of Russian forces.

Just before 1 p.m., Russian soldiers shot at his car, forcing him to crash into a tree. Olena was unable to pull Volodymyr’s unconscious body out of the vehicle. She had no choice but to flee for her life.

Volodymyr’s family hoped that he may still be alive. But when they asked friends and neighbors to help in their search, no one could find him.

His burned remains were found inside the car weeks later.

Read full story about last moments of 36 victims we identified on Yablunska Street, Bucha in our investigation for the New York Times.

HOW WE REPORTED THIS

To identify the people killed along Yablunska Street in Bucha, New York Times reporters compiled a visual record of the victims from photos and videos taken along the street after Russian soldiers retreated from the town. Using drone footage and satellite imagery captured throughout March, we established when and where each person was killed.

We reviewed hundreds of pages of classified crime scene documents and morgue records, and analyzed thousands of graphic photographs posted by police to Telegram channels. We sifted through social media posts for missing persons and contacted their relatives. In addition, by matching the clothing worn by victims on Yablunska Street to local morgue records, we established the identity of 36 victims. In Bucha, we spoke to the family or friends of each victim, including survivors who were with them when they were killed. They shared with us details of their loved ones’ final moments.

We verified our findings with Bucha’s deputy mayor, Mykhailyna Skoryk-Shkarivska, along with Ukrainian law enforcement officials and the security service, the S.B.U.