Disinfo: Kyiv's accusations of killings in Bucha are a provocation

Summary

The materials presented by the Ukrainian authorities, allegedly confirming the "crimes" of Russian troops in Bucha, are yet another provocation, the Defense Ministry [of Russia] said. [...]

They stressed that for the entire time the point was under the control of the Russians, not a single local resident suffered from any violent actions. [...]

All the bodies of people whose images were published by the Kiev regime, after at least four days, were not in rigor mortis, did not have characteristic cadaver spots, and the blood was not clotted in their wounds.

Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation obfuscating atrocities against Ukrainian civilians committed by the Russian armed forces in Bucha, in the vicinity of Kyiv.

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 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

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RIA (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 278
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 03/04/2022
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine
  • Keywords: War crimes, War in Ukraine
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Disinfo: Ukrainian Nazis were occupying the bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol

Ukrainian model and blogger Marianna Podgurskaya, who turned out to be one of the women documented in the reports about the shelling of maternity hospital No. 1 in Mariupol, said that the nationalists took away food from pregnant women and turned the medical facility into barracks for militants.

In March 2022, unidentified persons from among the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and volunteer nationalist battalions in Mariupol fired at the maternity hospital building at 36 Pashkovsky Street. After that, they placed equipment and heavy weapons, seized and forcibly kept at least 100 civilians inside the building, including pregnant women and at least 40 children, using them as hostages and human shields, driving them into the basement.

Apr 01, 2022
Disproof

The disinformation is part of a well-known Kremlin tactics to sow doubt, to obfuscate and deflect responsibility for its horrific acts.

The tragedy described by the disinformation articles occurred on 9 March 2022. Marianna Vyshemirskaya, born Pidgurskaya, is one of the pregnant women featured in the pictures from the bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol, the city that is currently under Russian siege.

Disinfo: EU is not considering Russian interests, is Russophobe

Russia will not forget the European Union’s hostile attitude, imposing unfair sanctions in response to the special operation to demilitarize Ukraine. The EU should renounce the policy of diktat and start considering Russia’s legitimate interests, in order to normalise relations.

Apr 01, 2022
Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing the European Union and the West of Russophobia.

In reality, the EU does not harbour animosity towards Russia. It aims to establish equal and good-neighbourly relations with Moscow. Western nations have always been calling for solving all problems with Russia in a peaceful and diplomatic manner. Moscow’s overall aggressive policy has led to a tougher and better-balanced policy towards it by the West.

Disinfo: The Anglo-Saxons turn Ukraine into a new Afghanistan in order to weaken Europe

The Anglo-Saxons do not want a strong Europe – they want to keep it weak and subordinate. For this goal, they use different tools. For example, George W. Bush spoke of the “new Europe”, which was supposed to undermine the plans of Berlin and Paris. Ukraine is another instrument for the destruction of the EU.

In 2014, the Heads of MFA of France, Germany and Poland were supposed to guarantee a peaceful transformation in Kyiv, but on the next day, the USA supported the anti-Constitutional coup. Later, Germany and France became guarantors of the Minsk agreements, but the Anglo-Saxons flooded Ukraine with weapons. They do not hide that they want to create a new Afghanistan in Europe. The Afghanisation of Ukraine is realised not only against Russia but above all, against Europe.

Mar 31, 2022
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative, challenging Ukraine’s statehood and trying to blame the West for the Russian invasion of Ukraine by painting Ukraine as a puppet of the West.

Ukraine is a sovereign state with a democratically elected government and its own foreign and security policy. The country is not controlled by the US, EU or any other foreign organisation or government. Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected by most of the world but have been violated by Russia since 2014. Western countries are only supporting lethal military aid and financial aid to Ukraine for the country’s efficient self-defence against the unprovoked Russian invasion.