(Bucha) Ukraine’s martyr city of Bucha, a symbol of atrocities attributed to the Russian military, must become “a symbol of justice”, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday, calling for “every Russian murderer” to be brought to justice

“We must do everything to make Boutcha a symbol of justice,” he said during a summit in Kyiv on the first anniversary of the recapture of this locality by Kyiv forces. “We want every murderer, every executioner, every Russian terrorist to be held accountable for every crime against our people,” he added.

For his part, Vladimir Putin signed a decree validating a new foreign policy doctrine, which according to his head of diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov underlines “the existential nature of Western threats” aimed at Russia.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, for his part, denounced from Geneva serious human rights violations that had become “scandalously routine” 13 months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president has since pledged victory to his people after vowing earlier in the day to “punish all those guilty” of the massacre.

“We are going to win for sure, the Russian evil will fall, right here in Ukraine and will not be able to get up again”, he hammered from this suburb of Kyiv in front of the Croatian Prime Ministers Andrej Plenkovic, Slovak Eduard Heger, Slovenian Robert Golob and Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

On March 31, 2022, the Russian army withdrew from the Kyiv region, a month after launching the invasion of the country on the orders of President Vladimir Putin. Two days after the withdrawal, the massacre was known.

AFP journalists discovered in Boutcha on April 2 charred carcasses of vehicles, destroyed houses and above all, scattered over several hundred meters, the bodies of 20 men in civilian clothes, one of whom had his hands tied in the back.

These scenes shocked the whole world, Kyiv and Westerners denouncing summary executions of civilians. The Kremlin denies him any involvement and evokes a staging.

During his visit to the site two days after the discovery, the visibly upset President Zelensky denounced “war crimes” which will be “recognized by the world as genocide”.

Today, Ukraine estimates that “more than 1,400” civilians died in the Boutcha district during the occupation, including 637 in the city itself.

AFP journalists observed Thursday reconstruction work in this city which had 37,000 inhabitants before the war.

Several dozen workers are busy in the middle of diggers, backhoes and dump trucks, to rebuild the houses and redo the road.

If the trauma remains present, residents interviewed by AFP recognized that the “pain lessens” because we must “continue to live”.

Without forgetting the dead, it is important to live “in the future”, underlines Archpriest Andriï, who manages the local Orthodox parish.

“Not only must we win, we must defeat the occupiers… We must condemn the criminals, punish the evil,” he said.

Russian forces have been accused of multiple abuses by Ukrainian authorities after the discovery of hundreds of bodies in Boutcha and other towns, graves near Izium (East) or “torture rooms” in recaptured towns, according to Kiev.

The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for the “deportation” of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Russia continues to deny any abuse by its forces.

And on Friday, the Russian president adopted a new diplomatic doctrine, due to “upheavals on the international scene” due to the war.

Its head of diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, underscored “the existential nature of the threats” from the West, accusing the United States and its allies of waging a “hybrid war” against Moscow.

“The provisions of the doctrine provide for systematically and, if necessary, severely suppressing anti-Russian measures of unfriendly countries,” insisted Mr. Lavrov presenting the 42-page document during a teleconference of the Russian security council chaired by Mr. Putin

The Belarusian president, who lent Russia his territory to invade Ukraine, wanted to pose as a peacemaker on Friday, calling on the belligerents for negotiations and a truce. A proposal rejected by Russia.

But Alexander Lukashenko also went there with his threat against the West, by proposing to welcome Russian strategic nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Mr. Lukashenko, who holds the West and Ukraine responsible for the conflict, also said he feared a “nuclear” war, while he had already agreed to the deployment of Russian “tactical” nuclear weapons in his country.

“Because of the United States and its satellites, an all-out war has been unleashed,” he said, saying “nuclear fires loom on the horizon.”

On the front, the fighting is still raging above all in the East, around Bakhmout, which the Russians have been trying to take for months at the cost of colossal losses.

Kyiv admitted on Thursday that it now controls only a third, but hopes the damage inflicted on Moscow’s forces will weaken Russian lines when the Ukrainian army launches the counter-offensive it is planning, awaiting new weapons. Western.