The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, recalled on Thursday evening the bombing of the theater in Mariupol, which happened exactly one year ago, and promised his compatriots that Ukraine will liberate this city, which is currently controlled by the Russians, along with other occupied settlements. Those guilty of war crimes will be held accountable before international justice, writes News.ro.

“A year ago, the Russian army committed one of the most terrible crimes of this war. Russian bombs destroyed the theater in Mariupol. A building that was used as a shelter. There were women with children, pregnant women and elderly people. A civilian object deliberately destroyed by the occupier. We still do not know the exact number of victims. Hundreds of people? A thousand? “Children” signs near the building clearly indicated who was targeted by Russia. One of many such goals. The evil state will answer for each of them,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyi in his evening address to his compatriots.

He encouraged the Ukrainians and instilled in them confidence in victory, showing that a year ago the Russians occupied a much larger territory, which is now liberated. “In the middle of March last year, the occupier was still in the north of our country, in many places of the Kharkiv region. In the south, the enemy had completely different positions. But even then we began to drive them away. The day will come when we will liberate Mariupol, our entire south, our entire east, as we liberated our other cities,” Zelensky assured his compatriots.

Recently, the Ukrainian leader has been focusing his speeches on ideas of hope and trust, as the war enters its second year, Russia, although mired in hostilities in the east, controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory, and Ukrainians begin to feel the trauma of the war, as recently reported The New York Times in a report from a psychiatric hospital in Kyiv.

“All those who bombed Ukraine, who burned our villages, who bombed Ukrainian cities… Mykolaiv, Kherson, Nikopol and Marganets, Zaporizhzhia, cities of Donbas, Kharkiv, Kharkiv region. All those who conduct terrorist shootings in the communities of Chernihiv and Sumy regions, all those who brought war to Donetsk region and Luhansk region, all those who tried to enslave Crimea. all racists will be brought to justice, they will be held responsible for every stolen Ukrainian life,” Zelenskyy said, using the derogatory term “racist,” a combination of “Russians” and “Nazis” that Ukrainians use to refer to the occupiers after the invasion was launched.

“The day will come when a tribunal will be established to give justice to our people, a tribunal that will punish this aggressor as they have punished past aggressors. The day will come when all the perpetrators of war crimes against Ukrainians will stand trial in the halls of the International Criminal Court and national courts. We will do all the legal work. We are mobilizing all necessary partners for this. This is already being done. Every day we bring justice closer to Ukraine. We work for this every day. The Prosecutor General and his office, Ukrainian law enforcement officers, special services, the government, diplomats, my office. Racism cannot remain an unpunished evil. There will be punishment. And if some terrorists hope to hide somewhere, they won’t be able to,” Zelensky promised.

The President of Ukraine also told his compatriots about the diplomatic contacts he had during the day, in particular recalling the conversation with the Prime Minister of Great Britain Rishi Sunak, with whom he talked about “increasing defense capabilities.”

“There will be results from this conversation. Our soldiers will see them,” said Zelensky.

The Prime Minister of Latvia was in Kyiv on Thursday, and Zelensky thanked him for “the new defense package, for the principled support at all levels – from weapons to politics, from sanctions against Russia to legal issues.” Zelensky also noted that issues of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine were discussed. “Ukraine has always been Europe. Ukraine will always be Europe. “Russian bombs will not change the objective reality, the reality that Ukrainians protect,” Zelenskyy stressed.

At the end of his speech, Zelenskyi congratulated the units fighting at the front, naming some of them, and once again promised his compatriots that “all of Ukraine will be free.”

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