Bucha rememberance. 561 civilians were brutally tortured and killed here. In the nearby region overall 1000 civilians were killed.

Tonight here in #Bucha, we are holding a night of remembrance. 561 civilians were brutally tortured and killed here over 33 days of fighting and russian occupation. Across the entire territorial community surrounding the city, more than 1,000 people died during that time. Other occupied regions of #Ukraine currently also have instances of "human safari" where russian soldiers kill civilians for fun and sometimes film themselves doing it.

Hundreds were shot by russian soldiers, and the bodies of many lay in the streets and against walls for weeks, until russia's defeat and the return of Ukrainian forces to the city, along with the global media.

And the name of this comfortable, prosperous suburb of Kyiv among the woods became a shocking symbol of atrocity and inhumanity, images that went around the world.

This is the church in the center of Bucha, next to which a mass grave of 67 bodies was found. During the occupation, people buried their dead as best they could — like this, in a pit beside a church.

Every day I can see that church from my home in the distance, and every time, I remember how we were present at the terrible exhumation of that enormous grave. That's something I would want to forget forever.

A memorial complex now stands on that spot.