Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged European leaders to remain united in support of Ukraine at a summit to mark three years since the liberation of the town of Bucha from Russian occupation on Monday.
Speaking at the summit, which was attended by delegations from over 15 European countries as well as the European Parliament, Zelensky said the atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha in 2022 represented “what could happen in any European country if our unity now fails to bring about real accountability for Russia’s aggression”.
Stressing that Russia “must not gain any benefit” from its invasion of Ukraine or “evade just accountability for what it has done”, Zelensky called on Ukraine’s European partners to “continue supporting our defence, our pursuit of peace, the spread of truth about this war, and everything needed to ensure a dignified peace and real accountability for war criminals”.
Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska also led tributes to the victims of the massacre, laying candles at a memorial wall in Bucha, which is on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.
The Russian military entered Bucha on 27 February 2022 and the town remained under Russian occupation for 33 days until its liberation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on 31 March.
In that time, Russian troops are believed to have committed at least 9,000 war crimes. According to the Ukrainian government, over 1,400 people were killed during Russia’s occupation of the town, with the bodies of 175 people found in mass graves and torture chambers after its liberation.
Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk announced on Saturday that a new memorial to the victims would be built at the site of one of the mass graves to “tell the story of 33 days of occupation — not through numbers or dates, but through form, material and silence”.
On Monday, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that at least 33 civilians kidnapped during the occupation of Bucha remained imprisoned in Russia amid what a recent UN Human Rights Council report called “widespread and systematic” enforced disappearances of Ukrainian civilians by Russia, that it said amounted to crimes against humanity.