Orthodox priest Andriy Galavin hopes justice will be served, three years after hundreds of people were shot during Russia’s occupation of Bucha, where his church served as a temporary burial ground.
But his faith in justice is being tested by US President Donald Trump’s courting of the Kremlin in the hopes of a quick end to the war, leaving some Ukrainians fearful their concerns and demands — like seeing Russian officials stand trial — will be sidelined.
Standing beside a memorial to the people buried by his church — 116 people out of the more than 400 killed during the occupation of Bucha — Galavin warned against ending the war without giving Ukrainians closure.
“You can force peace however you want, you can twist arms and force to capitulate, but until there is justice, the wound will never heal,” Galavin said.
On display in his church, next to golden Orthodox icons, are photographs attesting to alleged Russian war crimes — some taken by AFP journalists — showing killed civilians lying in Bucha’s streets.
Galavin could recount many of their individual stories. He also reburied many after Bucha’s liberation when investigators exhumed the remains to identify the victims.
‘Trump isn’t forever’
One picture showed the corpse of Volodymyr Brovchenko, who was shot dead during the occupation in early March 2022 when he left home to return a bicycle to work.
Brovchenko’s widow, Svitlana, told AFP that she pleaded with him not to venture out. For a year after his killing, she hoped her partner of 45 years would miraculously return.
Those feelings have “faded” but she was still holding out hope her husband’s killers would face justice, she said.
“I have no doubt that it will come, whatever happens. Trump isn’t forever,” she said.
She said she wanted a public trial “for people to see what war brings and who brings war, and how it’s punished. So that no one else gets tempted”.
Russia’s invasion has pushed law enforcement officers, journalists and human rights activists to collect evidence that could be used to hold Russian troops accountable.
Ukrainian authorities have opened more than 128,000 war crimes investigations, pinning their hopes on the International Criminal Court to bring the most high-level criminals to justice.
The court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the deportation of Ukrainian children as well as senior Russian military officials for directing attacks on civilians.
Yet Trump has imposed unprecedented sanctions on the ICC. His administration has also reportedly defunded US-led initiatives to identify those responsible for the invasion and tracking Ukrainian children in Russia.
Meanwhile Mongolia ignored calls to make good on the ICC warrant last year when it hosted Putin for a state visit.
‘Free rein to aggressors’
Decisions that undermine the ICC are “very disturbing”, said Maryna Slobodyanuk, an investigator at Ukrainian organisation Truth Hounds, which aims to document war crimes.
“It gives free rein to Russia and all aggressors,” she told AFP.
Her group works with a collective of NGOs called Tribunal for Putin which has identified 12,000 deaths resulting from possible war crimes.
The collective seeks to avert future atrocities by holding Russia to account over this conflict. Its ranks include the Centre for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for its documentation of alleged Russian crimes.
Its head Oleksandra Matviichuk told AFP that any current obstacles to justice were temporary.
“This is one of the most documented wars in human history,” she said.
“This means that even if the international community doesn’t have the political will to uphold justice now, we will seize the opportunity tomorrow, when the situation changes,” Matviichuk added.
Walking through the church ground where he once hosted the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, Galavin said Ukrainians holding out for justice could face a long wait.
“Justice is under sanctions,” he said.
“We have people who come to our church, who suffered, who have lost relatives and friends, who were raped. The guns will fall silent, sooner or later, but they need to be allowed to live on,” he told AFP.
