File:Bucha. Faces of War. - Ukraine War Photo Exhibition 2023 (52703002925).jpg

21 Feb 2023. Graphic Content: Please be advised that many of the images in the exhibition include graphic depictions of violence, injuries and death that have resulted from the war and may not be suitable for all audiences.

Please note that these images have been shared with the permission of the Bucha City Council, the Embassy of Ukraine Ireland, Reuters and photojournalist Alex Kent.

• Ceann Comhairle Introduction*

In April 2022 I travelled, with the then Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, Senator Mark Daly, to Ukraine to witness first-hand the barbarity being inflicted on our fellow European democracy of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. We travelled at the invitation of my counterpart in the Ukraine Parliament, H.E. Mr. Ruslan Stefanchuk.

When we visited the town of Bucha with Speaker Stefanchuk, to witness the destruction and death left by Russian forces, he asked if we would be willing to host this exhibition in the Oireachtas, to show what happened there. This is the exhibition we saw in Bucha.

The photographs speak for themselves. Putin’s monstrous war continues and the photographs on display here demonstrate the justifiable cause for revulsion across the democratic world.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl, TD Ceann Comhairle.

• Embassy Exhibit Description*

On March 31, 2022, the Ukrainian City of Bucha, Kyiv region, was liberated from the Russian occupiers. For 28 days, people lived without electricity, water, heat and communication, cooking food in their yards on firewood. Russians shot civilians for trying to go outside in search of food.

For burial, as in the Middle Ages, a mass grave appeared in Bucha near the Church of St. Andrew. After liberation, 116 bodies were exhumed from it. Also, the shot residents were just lying on the streets of Bucha. In particular, more than 40 bodies were collected from one Yablunska Street.

These photos documented that time. They were made by Reuters journalists from April 2 to 6, 2022, immediately after the liberation of the City. Later, the agency graciously granted the right to publicly display these photos to Bucha City Council, which resumed its operation after de-occupation.