BUCHA: Russia used its long-range arsenal to bombard anew several areas of Ukraine on Friday, killing at least two civilians and damaging houses as Ukrainians commemorated the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha from a “brutal occupation” by the Kremlin’s forces.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Bucha, a town near Kyiv, stood as a symbol of the atrocities the Russian military had committed since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. “We will not let it be forgotten,” Zelenskyy said at a formal ceremony in Bucha, vowing to punish those who committed “outrages” in the town.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin-allied President of Belarus raised the stakes in the 13-month war when he said that Russian strategic nuclear weapons might be deployed in his country, along with part of Moscow’s tactical nuclear arsenal.
Moscow said earlier this week it planned to place in Belarus tactical nuclear weapons that are comparatively short-range and low-yield. Strategic nuclear weapons such as missile-borne warheads would bring a greater threat. Zelenskyy dedicated his attention to an official ceremony in Bucha, where he was joined by the president of the Republic of Moldova and the PMs of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The Kremlin’s forces occupied Bucha weeks after they invaded Ukraine and stayed for about a month. When Ukrainian troops retook the town, they encountered horrific scenes: bodies of women, young and old men, in civilian clothing, lying in the street where they had fallen or in yards and houses. Other bodies were found in a mass grave.
More than 1,400 civilian deaths, including 37 children, were documented in the Bucha district by Ukrainian authorities, Zelenskyy said. More than 175 people were found in mass graves and alleged torture chambers, according to Zelenskyy.
Ukraine and other countries, including the US, have demanded that Russia answer for war crimes. Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin alleged on Friday that many of the dead civilians were tortured. — Agencies.