During the 33 days of occupation last year, Russian forces committed more than 9,000 war crimes in Kyiv Oblast’s city of Bucha and its district, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said.

“A year ago, Ukraine’s Defense Forces liberated Bucha. Then we all saw for the first time evidence of the unprecedented scale of the enemy’s atrocities.

More than 1,400 civilians, including 37 children, were killed by Russian troops in the area. Fifty-two more children were reportedly injured.

Over the past year, almost a hundred Russian soldiers were charged, and indictments regarding 35 have been sent to the court. Among them is a colonel-general, commander of Russia"s Central Military District, who led the occupation of Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kyiv oblasts. Two Russian servicemen were sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegal detention of civilians and looting.

I am convinced that all these crimes are not a coincidence. This is part of Russia’s planned strategy aimed at destroying Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation”, - writes Kostin.