EU top diplomats mark four years since Bucha massacre
EU ministers remember Bucha's victims (Photo: Andrii Sybiha/X)
The memory of people killed by Russian troops in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, in 2022 was honored by top European Union diplomat Kaja Kallas, EU foreign ministers, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on March 31.
"With EU colleagues, we visited Bucha and honored the memory of those brutally killed by the Russian occupiers," Sybiha wrote on X.
"Standing here, we felt with our whole being that the future and security of all of Europe are being decided right here, on Ukrainian soil. Bucha is a symbol of Russian atrocities, but it is also a testament to Ukrainian resilience. It was from here four years ago that the liberation of our lands began."
Holding those responsible for this crime accountable is the foundation of a "sustainable, dignified, and just peace," he stated.
Ukraine is working on the creation of a Special Tribunal, a Register of Damage, and a Claims Commission "so that no crime goes unpunished," Foreign Minister assured.
A special off-site meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council will take place today.
The ministers will focus on the battlefield situation, energy security, and Ukraine's accession to the EU during the meeting, he clarified.
"I am grateful to Kaja Kallas that Ukraine is already de facto participating in these high-level discussions."
Bucha has become a symbol of the Russia's war cruelty, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas remarked.
"Many of the dead civilians were shot at close range," she wrote on X.
"Some with their hands tied behind their backs. Four years after these mass murders, we remember the victims. What happened here cannot be denied. Russia must answer for what it has done to Ukraine."
Kaja Kallas and EU foreign ministers arrived in Kyiv on March 31.
Russian forces fully occupied Bucha in early March 2022. The city was only liberated on March 31. The occupiers committed inhuman crimes and brutal atrocities the entire time. The largest number of bodies of murdered civilians (about 40) were later found on Yablunska Street.
381 people died in Bucha, and 554 people, including 12 children, died in its territorial community during Russian occupation, as of data provided to BBC Ukraine by the Bucha City Council's archive department in March 2025.
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