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A year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the town of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kiev, is trying to move forward despite the tragic memory of 419 deaths. In an interview with RFI, the mayor of Bucha explains how the present and future of this locality is projected, where destroyed houses are being recovered with foreign money.
Near Yablonska Street, where dozens of Ukrainians were found slaughtered in the street, the sound is not gunshots or explosions, but just drills and hammer. Several homes damaged during the Russian occupation are being repaired with money from the Howard Buffett Foundation, son of billionaire Warren Buffett. In the space of one month of occupation, around 3200 civil infrastructures were totally or partially destroyed.
The mayor of Bucha, Anatolii Fedorov, explains to us that it was necessary to remove signs of Russian presence in the city.
“Metaphorically, we needed to wash our clothes, everything related to Russians“, explains the mayor. “From the very beginning, our main concern was to keep the city functioning and order in Bucha. We knew we were going to hold out against the Russians and that we were going to win.“, he declared.
80% of the inhabitants returned to Bucha where the priority in recent months has been to restore the water and electricity supply. Only the programmed cuts in light prevent some normality.
But in Bucha the worst was the loss of almost 500 lives. Later on, there will be the possibility of creating a monument evocative of the events in Bucha.
“We are considering building a memorial complex to remember our victory and the 419 people we lost. Let it be a memory of those events but also a symbol of victory because the liberation of Bucha gave way to that of other Ukrainian cities“, the mayor Anatoliy Fedorov, who believes that the events of Bucha will last “for ten generations”.
And because the memory will not be short, there is always the fear of the return of the Russians. Just as some family members want to believe that the nearly 30 disappeared from Bucha were taken to Belarus, they also fear that from Belarus the Russians could come again.
“I wonder how this was possible in 2022. We believe in the work of the armed forces. If you try again, we’ll do everything we can to get you a proper answer. But no one here is safe“, warns the mayor of Bucha.