DISINFO: Accusations against Russia are groundless, Bucha events are a well-directed show
SUMMARY
Any accusations against the Russian side, against the Russian military, of war crimes in Bucha are not just groundless, but a well-directed show.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation obfuscating atrocities against Ukrainian civilians committed by the Russian armed forces in Bucha, in the vicinity of Kyiv.
[Please note that some of the images and descriptions referenced in this case are distressing.]
Russia's claims that video footage showing dead bodies on the streets of Bucha is staged have been fact-checked and debunked by the BBC, Bellingcat, The Atlantic Council, Mediazona, the Insider, Sky News, the New York Times and others.
Accounts of violence against civilians in Bucha have been collected by the Human Rights Watch:
"On March 4, Russian forces in Bucha, about 30 kilometers northwest of Kyiv, rounded up five men and summarily executed one of them. A witness told Human Rights Watch that soldiers forced the five men to kneel on the side of the road, pulled their T-shirts over their heads, and shot one of the men in the back of the head. “He fell [over],” the witness said, “and the women [present at the scene] screamed.”
See also here.
The President of Ukraine, who visited the liberated town of Bucha, said:
"These are war crimes and they will be recognized by the world as genocide. We are aware of thousands of people killed and tortured, with their limbs cut off. Raped women, murdered children. I believe this is genocide"
The European Union has condemned in the strongest possible terms the reported atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces. The EU called for accountability for human rights and international law violations by the Russian Armed Forces, including full support for the investigation launched by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more about the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
See a related disinformation claims, alleging that Kyiv's accusations of killings in Bucha are a provocation, that Britain is lying by saying that Bucha massacre is Russia's fault, that videos from Ukrainian town Bucha are context-and-evidence-free, that Ukrainian corpses move, stand up and avoid transport in Bucha, that West is spreading fakes about Russian atrocities in Bucha, that The images of dead bodies In Bucha may be a diversion of attention from US biolabs in Ukraine.