DISINFO: Ukrainian army has been attacking civilian areas in Donetsk with artillery for eight years
SUMMARY
The Ukrainian army has been attacking civilian areas in Donetsk with artillery for eight years.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about the atrocities of the Ukrainian army in Donbas, such as war crimes and genocide. This is part of a disinformation campaign aiming to deflect attantion away from Russian actions and justify Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
There is no evidence to support the claims of genocide by Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities did not systematically exterminate or abuse the people living in the conflict zone. The claimed dead people – military and civilian alike - are a result of a war Russia had started in Ukraine. It was not an internal civil conflict but a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine which has closely monitored the conflict has observed no such genocide.
On the contrary, there is numerous events which suggests that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine, such as indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets; hospitals, schools, residential areas, shopping malls, killing civilians and rapings.
There is documented evidence that, for instance, the shooting of civilians in Bucha was done by Russian troops. Several executions and shootings of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha were recorded on video by witnesses and Ukrainian drones. Satellite images show that some of the corpses were already lying on the streets weeks before the Russian withdrawal. Incriminatory radio conversations by Russian troops were intercepted and released by German intelligence. Furthermore, a similar pattern of Russian war crimes is emerging in places like Borodyanka, Chernihiv, Hostomel, and others.
There is also verified evidence showing that Russia is responsible for a strike at a shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk on 27 June 2022 and in the city of Vinnytsia on 14 July 2022.
Read a similar case claiming that Armed Forces of Ukraine have committed war crimes and genocide in Donbas.