Russia is seeking to destroy all Ukrainian cities and towns, regardless of their geographical location, Bucha Mayor Anatoli Fedoruk said in Vilnius on Friday, amid reports of a fresh wave of drone and missile strikes.
“Russia is shelling villages, towns, and cities across Ukraine daily. It doesn’t matter if these cities and towns are near the front line or elsewhere in the country; they are seeking to destroy all cities,” he told reporters.
Fedoruk was speaking to reporters after being shown a virtual reality installation, named Emotional Breakthrough, at Vilnius Town Hall.
Gedimino Legionas, a volunteer association that created the installation, says that it invites visitors to look at the destroyed Bucha through virtual reality glasses and see the price and meaning of the Ukrainian struggle.
Fedoruk said that the main purpose of his visit to Vilnius was “to express gratitude to the people of Lithuania for the support and assistance they are giving to Bucha and Ukraine”.
“It is almost impossible to forgive what the Russians did, which is why we are seeking a tribunal after our victory,” Fedoruk said.
Kyiv is pressing for a special tribunal to be set up to prosecute Russia for the crime of aggression, saying that it would allow achieving faster justice and make it easier to bring the Kremlin’s top officials to trial.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently probing possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the war in Ukraine, but it has no mandate to investigate the broader crime of aggression.
Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, made headlines around the world in early April 2022 when dozens of civilian bodies were found in the streets of the town, some with their hands tied, after Russian soldiers retreated from the area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the events in Bucha as symbols of the brutality of the Russian invasion.
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