DISINFO: The West is spreading fakes about Russian atrocities in Bucha
SUMMARY
Western and Ukrainian media and politicians are spreading another fake about the alleged killings of civilians by the Russian military in the Kiev city of Bucha. A number of foreign publications, including Reuters, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC Russian Service, simultaneously issued notes about Bucha, from which Russian troops left on March 30, early on Sunday morning [...]
Notes about Bucha appeared in several foreign publications at once, which looks like a planned media campaign. Moreover, given that the Russian Armed Forces left the city on March 30, it is not clear why these frames were made public four days later, writes the War on Fake Telegram channel.
“ The video with the bodies is bewildering ... At the 30th second in the rearview mirror, the “corpse” sits down. The bodies in the video seem to have been deliberately laid out in order to create a more dramatic picture. This is clearly visible if the video is played at a speed of 0.25 of normal,” the message says.
RESPONSE
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