DISINFO: Defenders of Azovstal using civilians as human shield
SUMMARY
The defenders of Azovstal are like the terrorists in Syria. They invited civilians into the Azovstal plant with promises of food and protection. However, they started using them as human shields instead while they are their captives.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative accusing Ukrainians of causing civilian casualties themselves.
There is absolutely no evidence that the defenders of the plant got civilians to enter the plant to keep them hostage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in fact has been pleading for help for the people trapped inside the plant.
Contrary to the claims, Ukrainian troops do not use civilians as human shields and there are no neo-Nazi battalions in Ukraine. It is Russia’s invading forces who install their positions in densely populated places. Russian troops are heavily shelling and bombing residential areas, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, orphanages, churches and other civilian objects.
In fact, Russian forces have regularly targeted civilian targets resulting in significant civilian casualties and Russian soldiers seem to have committed war crimes in Ukraine, by executing hundreds of civilians. From 24 February to midnight on 20 April, the UN has documented and verified 5,264 civilian casualties – 2,345 killed and 2,919 injured. Of these, 92.3 percent (2,266 killed and 2,593 injured) were recorded in Government-controlled territory. Some 7.7 percent of casualties (79 killed and 326 injured) were recorded in Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups.
“We know the actual numbers are going to be much higher as the horrors inflicted in areas of intense fighting, such as Mariupol, come to light,” the UN Human Rights Chief said. Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by Russian forces with the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes.
See similar disinformation claimes here: Ukrainian Fascists Shelled The Kramatorsk Railway Station With A "Tochka U" Missile System, Ukraine Is Responsible For The Tochka-U-Missile Attack On Kramatorsk Railway Station, Ukrainian nationalists don't let civilians evacuate and use them as human shields.