DISINFO: The dead people in Bucha are just part of a Ukrainian provocation
SUMMARY
The Russian armed forces left the area on 30 March 2022, the mayor of Bucha celebrated with a video and did not mention any casualties, and 4 days later the first news of the "massacre" arrived after Ukrainian SBU troops and media representatives arrived in the area. Have the victims not been buried since 30 March just for the pictures?
This appears to be a Ukrainian provocation and is particularly worrying given the fact that, after at least four days, the bodies whose pictures have been published by the Kyiv regime do not have corpse marks, no characteristic body marks and no clotted blood in the wounds.
All this irrefutably confirms that the photos and videos in Bucha are another production of the Kyiv regime for the Western media, as happened with the maternity hospital in Mariupol and in other cities.
RESPONSE
This is a disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media denying the involvement of Russian troops in a massacre in the town of Bucha near Kyiv.
In reality, there is plenty of evidence about Russian involvement in the massacre in which dozens of civilians were found in a mass grave. It is not a final estimate because investigations are still underway. Killings, rape and other crimes against civilians were registered in Bucha. Even though a detailed report of what happened in Bucha is not yet available, videos shot on the ground show dozens of corpses left on the sides of the streets. According to Bucha’s mayor Anatoly Fedoruk at least 280 people have been buried in mass graves by the Russian army.
Satellite images of Bucha appear to show bodies lying in the street nearly two weeks before the Russians left the town.An image from 19 March, first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by the BBC, directly contradicts the Kremlin’s claim that the footage of bodies that has emerged in recent days was "staged" after the Russians withdrew. The image shows objects that appear to be bodies in the exact locations where they were subsequently found by Ukrainian forces when they regained control of the town north of Kyiv.
The original footage we analyzed unequivocally shows that the victims in Bucha are real, and indicate that Russian troops are responsible for killing innocent civilians. It was not a “provocation” by Ukraine or orchestrated by the West.
Initial reports from human rights organisations on the actions of Russian forces have detailed violence targeting civilians. Interviews with local residents, meanwhile, have accused Russian troops of carrying out summary executions of unarmed men over suspicions they had fought for Ukrainian armed forces in the Donbas in 2014.
Contrary to the article's claims videos and photographs from Bucha, are showing deceased individuals in civilian clothes. These first appeared on social media channels on April 1.
This would again run counter to Russian claims of such evidence not appearing until April 3. For example a video shared on Telegram at 6:18pm BST (8:18pm in Ukraine) and a video shared on Twitter at 9:02pm BST on April 1 show dead bodies lying on Yablunska Street in Bucha. Other videos from the same street published between April 1 and April 2 can be found here. All videos show the same sections of the street, with the same corpses and wreckage visible in the same position.
Furthermore on the morning of April 1, a video was shared on Telegram featuring the secretary of the Bucha City Council, Taras Shapravsky, stating: “Currently, the city remains under occupation, many mines, houses and even corpses. Therefore, we ask those who remain not to approach dangerous objects. The liberation of the city continues, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defence are working to regain every metre of native land”.
See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.