War in Ukraine: what to remember on the 403rd day of the Russian invasion

Europe 1 with AFP 17:47 pm, April 02, 2023

THE ESSENTIALS

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday hailed the Ukrainian resistance against "the greatest force against humanity of our time", on the first anniversary of the discovery of the bodies of civilians killed in Butcha, a city that has become a symbol of atrocities committed by the Russians. Moscow, for its part, has repeatedly denied any involvement and evoked a "staging" of Ukraine and its allies.

Key takeaways:

- Zelensky hails Ukrainian resistance one year after discovery of bodies of civilians killed in Bucha

- Moscow evokes a "staging" of Ukraine and its allies

- Russia takes over the presidency of the UN Security Council for one month

- On the ground, the intensity of fighting has decreased

Russia takes over the presidency of the UN Security Council

The anniversary comes a day after Russia took over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, where it faces the West who have ostracized it since the outbreak of its invasion of Ukraine. "Ukrainian people! You have stopped the greatest force against humanity of our time. You have stopped a force that despises and wants to destroy everything that matters to people," President Zelensky said on Telegram.

"We will liberate all our land. We will hand over the Ukrainian flag in all our cities and towns," he said, while Russia still controls more than 18% of Ukrainian territory. "We continue the struggle for the independence of our homeland," said the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny.

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On April 2, 2022, AFP journalists saw in Boutcha the corpses of twenty men in civilian clothes, one of whom had his hands tied behind his back, in addition to charred carcasses of vehicles and destroyed houses. These scenes shocked the world, with Kiev and the West repeatedly denouncing summary executions of civilians and war crimes. Since then, Busha has become a symbol of the atrocities blamed on Moscow's troops during their occupation of the region.

First anniversary of the Russian withdrawal from the Kiev region

For the commander of Ukrainian ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, the forced retreat of the Russians from the Kiev region a year ago, while they were near the capital, was "a strategic victory" at "the basis of new successful operations". Visibly upset and very moved, Volodymyr Zelensky had denounced "war crimes" that will be "recognized by the world as genocide" after visiting Butcha a year ago. Since then, almost all foreign leaders who have visited Ukraine have made a detour to Butcha.

On Friday, on the first anniversary of the Russian withdrawal from the Kiev region, following an unexpected Ukrainian resistance, Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped that Bucha would become a "symbol of justice", vowing to want to defeat "Russian evil". "We will never forgive," he said, promising to bring to justice "all the culprits" of Russia. Ukraine estimates that "more than 1,400" civilians died in the Bucha district during the Russian occupation, including 37 children. Of these, 637 were killed in the city itself.

A front almost frozen for several months

The anniversary of the discovery of the bodies of these Ukrainian civilians in the suburbs of Kiev, after a few weeks of fighting of rare violence, comes as the front, which stretches from the east to the south of Ukraine, has been almost frozen for several months. The Russians have claimed marginal gains since the beginning of the year, mainly around the city of Bakhmut in the Donbass, but have failed to break through Ukrainian defenses, reinforced by Western weapons. And this, however, at the cost of heavy losses, they conceded.

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The Russian army, supported by the Wagner paramilitary group, would like to be able to announce a victory on the battlefield, after multiple humiliating setbacks, starting with the retreat from the Kiev region a year ago. This was followed by forced withdrawals in the northeast and east that prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to mobilize hundreds of thousands of reservists, but did not turn the tide of the fighting at this stage.

On the ground, the intensity of fighting has decreased compared to the very beginning of the year, despite continued violent clashes around Bakhmut. On Sunday, Andriy Iermak, Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, said the Russians had "carried out a massive bombardment" on Kostiantynivka, near Bakhmut, killing at least six people and wounding eight.