For Volodymyr Zelensky, it is a “a symbol that shows that Ukraine will be able to win this war”. Friday, March 31, Ukraine commemorates the Russian withdrawal from the martyred city of Boutcha, a year earlier, which has become the most glaring symbol of the atrocities committed by Russian forces in the country. On March 31, 2022, the Russian army withdrew from this city and all of northern Kiev, just over a month after the start of the Russian invasion of the country. Two days later, journalists discovered charred carcasses of vehicles, destroyed houses and above all, the corpses of people in civilian clothes scattered over several hundred meters. On Friday, the mayor of Boutcha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, said that this massacre remained “in the heart, soul and mind of every inhabitant”. Follow our live.
Russia takes over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council. Russia will preside from Saturday and for a month this key body of the United Nations. A “bad joke”castigated on Twitter the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba. “Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council. It shouldn’t be because of what it is doing in Ukraine, but the (United Nations) charter does not allow changing its status as a permanent member”Linda Thomas-Greenfield told AFP.
Finland’s NATO membership approved by Turkey. Turkey finally approved Finland’s membership of the Atlantic Alliance on Thursday, after the green light from Hungary. Finland now only has to send its “instruments of ratification” in Washington, where the Treaty of the Alliance is kept.