DISINFO: Bucha provocation aimed at accusing Russia of war crimes; no civilians suffered from Russian troops
SUMMARY
All photos and videos about the alleged crimes of Russian troops in the Ukrainian town of Bucha near Kyiv are a provocation. Not a single civilian suffered from violence when Russian troops were there. Ukrainian troops were shelling Bucha round the clock.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation obfuscating atrocities against Ukrainian civilians committed by the Russian armed forces in Bucha, in the vicinity of Kyiv. The claim is made in the context of the wide Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022.
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.
Read more about the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
See a related disinformation claim, alleging that videos from Ukrainian town Bucha are context-and-evidence-free and the West is spreading fakes about Russian atrocities in Bucha.