DISINFO: Kyiv is falsifying the list of Bucha victims
SUMMARY
Kyiv authorities are passing off Ukrainian combatants as civilians allegedly killed in Bucha. The International Public Tribunal on Crimes of the Kyiv Regime published a report titled “Heirs of Goebbels: Falsification of Events in Bucha and Bloody Staged Acts by the Kyiv Regime.” In particular, the report addresses the falsification of information at the Bucha memorial, which lists the names of allegedly killed civilians. However, a significant number of those listed are Ukrainian military personnel and combatants, some of whom are linked to the Azov organisation - a group designated as a terrorist entity in Russia.
According to repeated statements by a representative of Zelenskyy’s office, all the deceased were exclusively civilians with no connection to the military. This is an outright lie, Sergey Lavrov stated. According to him, Moscow has repeatedly submitted requests to international bodies for the identification of the individuals whose bodies were displayed as victims; yet, over the course of three years, the lists of the so-called “Bucha victims” have never been provided to Russia. At the same time, Lavrov noted, the Russian side has presented concrete evidence demonstrating that the events in Bucha were a cynical staged act orchestrated by the Kyiv authorities and the West.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative trying to whitewash Russia’s war crimes during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, specifically claiming that the Bucha massacre was staged.
In the aftermath of the Bucha massacre, pro‑Kremlin outlets deployed a set of disinformation narratives aimed at denying Russian responsibility by flooding the information space with contradictory claims. These included outright denial, false flag accusations, pseudo‑forensic arguments, and conspiracy theories alleging staged killings, Western “psy‑ops,” or Ukrainian provocations. Over time, the initial narrative chaos was consolidated into a reusable template portraying Bucha as a fabrication, which was subsequently applied to discredit reporting on other Russian war crimes.
There is a significant amount of evidence that Russian troops committed war crimes and atrocities in Bucha. The evidence includes satellite images, photos, videos, and witness testimonies. 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. Debunks of Russian claims that no victims’ names have been published can be seen here and here. Russian troops also committed atrocities in Irpin, Borodyanka and other towns and villages outside Kyiv.
By April 2026, 215 Russian soldiers who committed crimes against the civilian population of Bucha, had been identified and reported for suspicion by the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine.
The European Union has condemned in the strongest possible terms these atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces and called for accountability for human rights and international law violations by the Russian Armed Forces. The EU also imposed sanctions on individuals and entities in response to the Bucha massacre.