PRESS RELEASE : Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Bucha, where he talked to local residents and journalists

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 4 April 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the city of Bucha in the Kyiv region, where mass killings of civilians took place during the occupation by Russian troops.

The Head of State visited the humanitarian aid center and talked to local residents.

Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk told the President about the humanitarian situation in the city, the progress of the search for the bodies of the dead, the assessment of the damage caused by the occupiers to private and communal property, and the pace of reconstruction of the city.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded Anatoliy Fedoruk with the Order of Courage of the III Degree.

The Head of State also spoke with international and Ukrainian journalists who came to Bucha to document Russia’s war crimes.

“It is very important for us that journalists are here. We want you to show the world what was happening here, what the Russian military was doing, what the Russian Federation was doing in peaceful Ukraine,” the President said, addressing the media.

As Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted, what the Russian occupiers did to this modern town is genocide.

“These are war crimes and they will be recognized by the world as genocide. We are aware of thousands of people killed and tortured, with their limbs cut off. Raped women, murdered children. I believe this is genocide,” the President said.

In addition, the President watched the road with destroyed equipment of the Russian army, as well as the destroyed bridge across the Irpin River on the M-06 Kyiv – Chop highway.

The President noted that part of the bridge over the Irpin River will be repaired and opened in a few months.

Preparations for the construction of a temporary crossing have now begun. It will be opened in about two weeks, said Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov.

According to him, full-fledged movement of one passage of the bridge can be started in two months, both passages – in three or four months.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also visited the destroyed bridge over the Irpin River on the R-30 highway. It will take ten days to build a temporary crossing here, and a full-fledged repair will take two to three months.