Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed on Friday to defeat Russia, a year after Moscow’s troops withdrew from the Ukrainian city of Bucha, which faces allegations of war crimes.
Russian troops withdrew from the city northwest of Kiev on March 31, 2022, just over a month after Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine, leaving a trail of death and destruction.
On April 2 last year, the AFP discovered the bodies of at least 20 people in the streets of the city, many with their hands tied behind their backs.
“The battle to build a free world is taking place on Ukrainian territory. We will definitely win. Russian evil will fall here in Ukraine,” said Volodymyr Zelensky, who considered Bucha “a symbol of the atrocities” committed by the Russian armed forces associated with the deaths of unarmed civilians.
“We will never forgive. We will punish all perpetrators,” Zelensky affirmed.
In Geneva, UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that the war in Ukraine has made serious human rights violations “shockingly routine” and distracted humanity from fighting existential threats to its survival.
war crimes
Ukraine and its Western allies accused Russian troops of committing war crimes, pointing to a slew of videos and eyewitness accounts.
Kiev authorities say Russian forces have killed about 1,400 civilians around Bucha and have identified dozens of Russian soldiers responsible.
Russia, for its part, claimed that the Bucha atrocities were staged.
A year after the attacks, the leaders of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia were also present in Bucha. Speaking at the meeting, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said those responsible must be held accountable. “Without justice there can never be peace,” he said.
After Russia’s withdrawal from cities near Kiev, fighting moved to the south and east of Ukraine. The city of Bakhmut is now the scene of the longest and bloodiest battle since the invasion.
However, a year after it was recaptured by Kievan troops, Bucha has not forgotten its victims.
According to AFP, dozens of construction workers, diggers and trucks have rebuilt houses and roads in the city where 37,000 people lived before the war.
“Not to mention”
Andriy, who heads the local parish, thought it was “important” not to forget those who “are no longer with us”, reinforcing the need to “live not in the past, but in the future”.
In the weeks following Russia’s withdrawal from other cities near Kiev, hundreds of bodies were found in houses, cellars and graves in the northern part.
In light of this, Ukraine wants to create a special court to prosecute the Russian leaders, but there are complex legal disputes over how this can work. ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has described Ukraine as a “crime scene”.
Russia has repeatedly denied abuses by its troops and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the scenes in Bucha this week as “gross and cynical provocation”.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, Putin has signed off on a new foreign policy strategy aimed at countering the global “domination” of the West and naming China and India as key partners for the future.
The document also described Russia as a “state civilization” charged with defending what it called the “Russian world”.
The concept of a “Russian world” is used by Russia to justify its actions in Ukraine with claims that it is defending the country’s Russian-speaking minority.
Source: DN
