Previously, few people knew about the existence of this small town in the Kiev region. Today, Buchu knows the whole world. It has become a symbol of the brutal war that Vladimir Putin has unleashed against the people of Ukraine, a place where Russian soldiers have committed particularly serious war crimes. From Ukrainian cities such as Bucha, Irpen, Mariupol, Kherson and others, the Russian army spilled blood on civilians.
Appearing on the stage at the Wilson Center in Washington, guests from Ukraine, Mayor of Bucha Anatoliy Fedoruk and Deputy Mayor of Bucha Mykhailina Skorik-Shkarivska Hall received a long applause. The theme of the webinar, which was held in a hybrid format, was formulated by the organizers as follows: “Bucha after the Russian occupation: Mayor of Bucha on the destruction of the city and hopes for the future” .
Meeting at the Wilson Center
As William E. Pomeranz, director of the Kennan Institute, which is part of the Wilson Center, has pointed out, Russia’s war on Ukraine is an example of flawed policy decisions that should have been left in the past.
“There are a lot of think tanks in America studying the events in Ukraine,” he said, “but the Kennan Institute devotes more attention to them than anyone. conferences, including jointly with Columbia University.
The President and Director of the Wilson Center, former US Ambassador Mark Green, who hosted the guests, recalled that in 2014 he came to Ukraine as an observer in the presidential elections, and even then he felt the character of the Ukrainian people, its determination to follow the path of democracy.
“Today we are all witnessing a brutal attack on the very foundations of the Ukrainian state,” Ambassador Green said. – Russian troops launched an offensive on Bucha on February 27 (2022), seeking to encircle Kiev. By March 31, they had withdrawn from Bucha, leaving behind them monstrous destruction and mass graves. Interviews, which correspondents from world agencies and publications took last spring and summer, helped recreate the picture of war crimes in Bucha and other cities. Bucha was the first evidence that Russia uses brutal violence and torture against civilians as a deliberately chosen tactic of intimidation.
According to Mark Green, according to official estimates, 458 corpses were found in Bucha, and 419 of them showed signs of torture and gunshot wounds. Giving maximum publicity to examples of such cruelty has helped and does help build international support for the Ukrainian people’s struggle for their sovereignty, history and culture.
“By showing cruelty to the civilian population, Putin has achieved exactly the opposite,” the ambassador noted. “He wants to intimidate the Ukrainians, and they unite even more against the aggressor.”
Mark Green introduced the meeting moderator, Brock Bierman, Head of Ukraine Friends, who co-hosted the meeting with the Wilson Center.
“Last year, Brok made seven trips to Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid there,” the ambassador said. “With Rotary International, he raised $2 million to buy ambulances, some of which he himself delivered to Ukraine.”
Bucha residents await UN humanitarian aid
Representing Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk, Mark Green said he had been in office since 1998 and had done a lot to improve the city’s social infrastructure, including schools, medical facilities and a city park. Initially, Fedoruk studied as a historian, then studied management. When the city was taken by Russian troops, the mayor went into hiding and continued to provide assistance to the residents who remained in the city.
Brock Birman added such a detail. When the Russian aggressors entered Bucha, they were looking for the local administration leaders on the list in order to deal with them. When they arrived at the mayor’s house, not finding him and his family, they set fire to and blew up his house.
“Would it have been possible to prevent what happened in Bucha? said Anatoly Fedoruk. – Have we done and are doing everything today so that this does not happen again? The war started a long time ago, more than 7 years ago, in fact, a war in the center of Europe. We must realize that this is not a war between Russia and Ukraine, but a war between civilizations, a war between dark and light forces, between autocracy and democracy.
“Until February 24, our beautiful city led a peaceful life,” continued the mayor. “We couldn’t imagine that the next morning we would be woken up by explosions. The aggressor was sure that in a few days his troops would march through Kiev in a victorious parade. But they seriously miscalculated, as Ukraine put up stubborn resistance. And then the terrorist country decided to take revenge on the Ukrainian people by ordering its soldiers – “kill, rape, steal!” They were told: “War will cancel everything. The Russian aggressors did not care much about the rules of war. They deliberately fire on ambulances, passenger buses, humanitarian aid vehicles. They kill old men, women and children. The war will end one day, we will restore everything that was destroyed, but we will not forget the crimes they committed. The Rashists must be punished, as the German Nazis were punished. The 45 million Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom, for their land. But to win, we really need help from the West.
Asked what he thinks the war in Ukraine means for Americans, Mayor Fedoruk replied, “This war is in Ukraine, but we stand for democracy in Europe and America. This is what Americans must clearly understand. We are not beggars and the help we get from the West is a mutually beneficial investment in our common future.
“Putin thinks the Ukrainian nation should not exist,” Bucha’s deputy mayor Mikhailina Skorik-Shkarivska said. “He wants to appropriate the territory of our country, destroying all the Ukrainian people. Do you understand what this is about? Now the best Ukrainians are fighting for the existence of our country, they are young and talented guys, computer scientists, high-tech workers. They sacrifice their life. Do not forget it. Help Ukraine and we will win.
Closing the meeting, Robin S. Quinville, director of the Wilson Center’s Global Europe program, said, “We are safe here, but the Ukrainians are not. I greet the representatives of Bucha who have come to visit us. Thanks to them and other brave people, the world learned the truth about the war crimes that Russian aggressors are committing on Ukrainian soil. War is our main challenge and we must face it together.
