President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was after what the world saw on the streets of Bucha, liberated from the invaders, it began to understand the full scale of Russian aggression. In total, more than 183,000 crimes related to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine have been recorded to date.
The head of state announced this during the Bucha 2025 summit, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“Today, we are in Bucha, in our Ukrainian city where, three years ago, the world first began to grasp the full extent of Russian aggression against Ukraine and Ukrainian people. The world then saw civilians killed on the streets of Bucha, saw evidence of abuse, saw evidence of torture that showed that this is not just a war of one state against another – but a full-scale confrontation between two systems: our shared European system, where human life and dignity matter, and the Russian system, where anyone can be killed, anyone can be abused, anyone can be deprived of their home,” Zelensky emphasized.
He emphasized that in Ukraine people remember the catastrophe of every such city, every village.
“Everyone sees what happened to Bakhmut, what happened to Avdiivka, Vuhledar, and many other cities, towns and villages of ours that have virtually ceased to exist: they are nothing but ruins, because this is what comes with the Russian flag. We remember each Russian strike. We remember how they destroyed our people – our prisoners of war – in Olenivka. We remember how people were tortured in ‘Izolyatsia’ in Donetsk – a prison that became the embodiment of the ‘Russian world,’” said the President.
He emphasized that “these are man-made catastrophes, committed not only by the Russian state but by specific individuals, specific Russian occupiers, each of whom has a name and a surname and must be prosecuted according to the law for everything they have done”.
“We will not forgive Russia’s crimes and all this war, because to forgive would mean to agree that a system like the current Russian one – a system that feeds on people – supposedly has the right to exist and to expand at the expense of other nations,” said Zelensky.
According to him, more than 183,000 crimes related to Russian aggression have already been recorded. In the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine – “there are thousands, possibly tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of crimes”, Zelensky added.
The President called for continued pressure on Russia and sanctions, “to ensure that the war and abuse do not expand further”.
He thanked all the heads of parliaments present at the event for participating in the Bucha-2025 summit.
“The power of parliaments lies in their ability to unite. Unite different people, different parts of society. When there is a truly solid foundation of values and a great cause, parliaments gather a tangible majority. We all need this very power of unity. We all need such a tangible majority. We all want to end this war as soon as possible, with guaranteed security, which is very important, with lasting peace and with dignity. And what does this mean – with dignity? It means that Russia should neither benefit from nor be rewarded for this war and should not escape rightful accountability for what it has done,” the head of state emphasized.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, on the third anniversary of the de-occupation of Bucha, the heads of parliaments from 17 European countries and the EU arrived in Ukraine.
The occupation of Bucha lasted 33 days: from February 27 to March 31, 2022. During this time, Russian aggression claimed the lives of 561 civilians, including 12 children.
Source: Zelensky: World started to understand full scale of Russian aggression after Bucha
