DISINFO: Russia did not bomb civilians in Mariupol, only the military targets
SUMMARY
Russians liberated Mariupol from the Ukrainian Nazis of the infamous Azov battalion who had held this city in their grip since 2014, whose citizens lived in terror, in fear of freely expressing their ideas or support for Russia, under penalty of immediate killing, or torture in prison. Russia in its Special Military Operation did not bomb civilians, but only the military targets of the Ukrainians who were holding the population hostage. Mariupol was bombed by the Ukrainian Nazis, who occupied civilians' homes to store their weapons, who took civilians and placed them in front of them, as a human shield, just like the Nazi-fascists did.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives portraying Ukraine as violating the rules of war, committing crimes against humanity, and being a Nazi state in general.
Ukrainian troops were defending Mariupol in the first months of 2022 during Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.
There is well-documented evidence that Russian troops and members of Moscow-backed military formations place their positions in residential areas. Russia’s military also targets schools, kindergartens, hospitals, orphanages, churches and other civilian objects. One of the most infamous atrocities Russian troops have committed in Ukraine so far was an airstrike on a maternity and children's hospital in the city of Mariupol on 9 March 2022. Three people including a child were killed and 17 people were wounded, according to official information. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the hospital bombing was “proof of genocide” against Ukrainians.
Vladimir Putin launched what he called a special military operation against Ukraine on 24 February 2022 citing NATO’s military infrastructure approaching the Russian border as a pretext. The invasion was followed by airstrikes on military objects. Russian troops later started bombing and shelling civilian targets as well.
The myth of “Nazi Ukraine” has been widely used by Putin and pro-Kremlin outlets since Russia attacked Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine appeared during the Euromaidan popular protests in late 2013 - early 2014, falsely presented in pro-Kremlin disinformation as a coup.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Ukrainian Nazis used tanks to shoot at Drama Theatre in Mariupol, that Ukrainians shoot from residential areas, use children as human shields, that Nazi ideas are dominant among Ukrainian military, with the approval of the West and that The Russian special operation protects people from genocide and persecution.