President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Ukraine would "never forgive" Moscow for its occupation of Bucha, a year after the town became a symbol of alleged Russian war crimes.

Russian forces pulled back from the commuter town northwest of Kyiv on March 31, 2022, just over one month after President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine.

AFP journalists on April 2 last year discovered the bodies of at least 20 people in civilian clothing, some with their hands tied behind their backs, lying in a street of the suburb.

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Zelensky said Bucha had become "a symbol of the atrocities" committed by Russian forces, who have been linked to the extra-judicial killings of unarmed civilians in Bucha.

"We will never forgive. We will punish every perpetrator," Zelensky said in a statement on social media.