Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a video to commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of the Kyiv region city Bucha from the Russian forces.
“Bucha and Bucha district. 33 days of occupation. More than 1,400 deaths, including 37 children. More than 175 people were found in mass graves and torture chambers. 9,000 Russian war crimes. 365 days since it is a free Ukrainian сity once again. A symbol of the atrocities of the occupying country’s army. We will never forgive. We will punish every perpetrator,” Zelensky wrote in a Telegram post.
Today, Zelensky and leaders of foreign nations honoured the memory of Bucha’s residents. The ceremony took place near the Church of Andrew the Apostle and All Saints. President of Moldova Maia Sandu, Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger, Prime Minister of Slovenia Robert Golob, Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenković, as well as Ukrainian politicians took part in the ceremony.
Photo: Zelensky’s press service
The city of Bucha, located 37 km away to the north-west of Kyiv, was under Russian occupation for over a month after the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed that Russian soldiers had left Bucha on 30 March. Furthermore, on 1 April commander of one of the divisions of Russia’s Naval Infantry Alexey Shabulin said that the soldiers were “cleaning out the settlements” in the direction Hostomel — Bucha — Ozera.
On 1 April, after the city had been retaken by Ukrainian soldiers, Ukrainian authorities and international journalists began posting photos and videos showing civilian bodies lying in the streets of Bucha, some of them with their hands tied. Mayor of Bucha Anatolii Fedoruk said there were over 400 victims in the massacre in the city.
Russia’s Defence Ministry denied all the accusations, stating that the massacre in Bucha was allegedly “staged by the Kyiv regime for Western media”, while Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Vasily Nebenzya called the situation in Bucha a “pre-planned provocation”.
The New York Times previously reported that analysis of satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies proves that the civilians had been killed during the Russian occupation of the city.
