Disinfo: Ukrainian corpses move, stand up and avoid transport in Bucha

Summary

Ukrainian "corpses" move, stand up and avoid transport in Bucha. Fake throwers spread a video with "bodies of the dead" lying on the road, allegedly filmed in the city of Bucha, Kiev region. The "corpses" in the footage move their arms and remove their limbs so as not to fall under the wheels of military equipment.

Such staged footage of alleged "Russian crimes" is an example of the work of Western PR structures and media companies to promote fake news about the situation in Ukraine.

Disproof

Well-known pattern of pro-Kremlin disinformation obfuscating atrocities against Ukrainian civilians. This time 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, 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.

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Rossiya 1 (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 278
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 05/04/2022
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: War in Ukraine, War crimes
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Disinfo: Macron wants evacuation of civilians from Mariupol to free Bernard-Henri Lévy

French President Emmanuel Macron supports new anti-Russian sanctions in the energy sector. Like any other French leader of the last two centuries, he suffers from the Napoleon complex. Macron's voters wonder who he is trying to free from the city of Mariupol. A key version concerns high-ranking officers of French intelligence. Another one concerns fascist and Devil's envoy Bernard-Henri Lévy who happened to get stuck in Mariupol.

Apr 04, 2022
Disproof

The disinformation aims to discredit the French President and is part of a well-known Kremlin tactic to sow doubt, to obfuscate and deflect responsibility for its horrific acts. Instead of speaking about a humanitarian catastrophe and huge death toll in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol due to prolonged besiege by Russian troops as part of the unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine, the outlet promotes conspiracy theories about why western leaders, particularly Macron, stand for evacuation of civilians from Mariupol.

There is no proof that "French intelligence officers" or French public intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy are stuck in Mariupol and that getting them out of the city is Macron's intention. Furthermore, April 2022 posts on Bernard-Henri Lévy's Twitter account do not suggest his presence in the besieged Mariupol. Published photos show Lévy in the Ukrainian cities which are not controlled by Russian troops.

Disinfo: Kyiv pursues its criminal plan to "slaughter every single Ukrainian"

Kyiv continues to persistently pursue its criminal plan to "slaughter every single Ukrainian", blatantly ignoring the catastrophic consequences that the deliberate placement of heavy equipment and anti-personnel mines in residential areas has for civilians.

Apr 04, 2022
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives obfuscating atrocities against Ukrainian civilians committed by the Russian armed forces, during Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The narrative presents the repeated pro-Kremlin narrative, of the Ukrainian army fighting and killing its own population, which is untrue.

Kyiv has no plans to "slaughter every single Ukrainian". The war in Eastern Ukraine was a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, but not a punitive military operation of the Ukrainian authorities. Russia was supporting its proxies with weapons, its active-duty soldiers served there and its top military commanders visited the war zone to coordinate joint efforts with the separatists. Despite all this Russia officially denied its military presence in Donbas for the past 8 years.

Disinfo: Ukrainian actions in Bucha are similar to those made by the White Helmets

The criminals in Ukraine have been trained for more than two decades by American and British intelligence. The (White Helmets) are a model.

What Ukraine and the neo-Nazis are doing in Bucha is the same as what the White Helmets were doing in Syria. The campaign to tarnish Russia's image in Bucha is similar to the "White Helmets" campaigns in Syria.

Apr 04, 2022
Disproof

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. And accounts of violence against civilians in Bucha have been collected by the Human Rights Watch.