“More than 50 of our soldiers and 450 civilians who were shot (by the Russians) are already resting in the cemetery. Why; Explain to me, why?’ asks a resident of Buka
“We remember Russian crimes”: from Buka, the martyr town, near Kiev, to the zones near the front, such as Kherson and KramatorskUkrainians today honored the victims of the war, exactly one year after the Russian invasion.
At the Church of Saint Andrew in Buka, a small photo exhibition recalls the dark hours experienced by this community, in the northwestern suburbs of the Ukrainian capital. Next to the building, which is still under construction, a mass grave was dug to hastily bury those killed before the town is liberated by Ukrainian forces at the end of March 2022.
“We gathered to remember Russian crimes, terror”said a priest at this ceremony that was organized “for peace in Ukraine and its defenders”.
Last spring, Buca became the symbol of crimes war for which Ukraine accuses Russia.
“My wife and I stayed here for a month during the occupation. We didn’t leave, we saw all the horror”said Sergei Zamostiane, a retired teacher, 62 years old, coming out of the church and with bloodshot eyes. “More than 50 of our soldiers and 450 civilians who were shot (by the Russians) are already resting in the cemetery. Why; Explain to me, why?’ continues. Zamostiane recounted that he lived on Yablonska Street where AFP journalists discovered, immediately after the Russians left, the bodies of about 20 civilians. Among them was their son’s godfather, who “killed in our yard.” And “a man whom we did not know, we found him there dead, we saw him with our own eyes”, narrated.
“We are tired of war”
Shortly afterwards, a second memorial service was held at the Buka cemetery. In recent weeks, a dozen new graves have been dug, covered with flowers and with Ukrainian flags: here are laid to rest soldiers who were recently killed, the “price” still being paid by the city, where before the war lived 30,000 people.
The most recent grave is that of 29-year-old Alexii, who was killed in mid-January. His mother, Tatiana, returned from Germany where she had taken refuge as a refugee, to bury her child. “We are tired, we don’t want another war. It’s cruel, we want them to leave us alone,” says the mother, supported by 24-year-old Anna, Alexii’s partner, who says all she feels is “an emptiness.”
In Lviv, western Ukraine, relatives of soldiers killed in the fighting gathered Thursday night at the cemetery. For the mother of one of them, Anna Kratsitska, “this anniversary is not a celebration, it is a pain.”
“My son is buried here. Tomorrow, it will be one year since he woke up in the morning and after seeing on TV that the war had started, he rushed to enlist (…) Tomorrow, it will be one year since he went to defend our homeland”, said Mariana Sulga.
Kherson, in the south, was liberated in November but lives to the rhythm of Russian bombing. “Everything changed, our lives turned upside down,” explained Diana, a 31-year-old saleswoman. “I dream of the end of the war, I dream that our child will sleep in our house” and not in his grandmother’s, far from the front, says the woman.
Almost 700 kilometers east of Buka, Kramatorsk also remembers its dead. This city is very close to Bahamut, the focus of the fighting for months.
Under the gray sky, Mykhailo Shikirin, 30, is buried, his coffin draped with the Ukrainian flag. He was a member of the National Guard and was killed in a bombing on February 18 in Tsypilovka, Luhansk region. “He died for the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine (…) Thanks to these soldiers we are here today, alive and safe”says the priest looking at the Ukrainian flags flying on 21 other graves.
Three soldiers, Shikirin’s comrades, fire three shots into the air, paying tribute to the dead.
Source :Skai
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