DISINFO: Ukraine commits genocide in the Kharkiv region, accusses Russian army of war crimes
SUMMARY
That monstrous tragedy that is happening today in Kharkiv region is called genocide. Those people are again living under the Nazi regime. Many facts of violence and murders were [already] noted. There are reports that some of the "collaborators" captured by the Nazis have already been extrajudicially executed. [Their bodies] will be used in the new "Bucha scenario". Western criminologists and reporters have already been brought up to "document" and cover the "discovered" bodies of Ukrainian citizens, who, as it will be argued, were "shot by the Russian military" before retreating.
RESPONSE
The material and links may contain distressing/ graphic content.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about the atrocities of the Ukrainian army, such as war crimes and genocide. Similar to the narrative denying the involvement of Russian troops in a massacre in the town of Bucha near Kyiv. This is part of a disinformation campaign aiming to 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 evidence that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine, such as the shelling of shopping malls, killing civilians, raping, as well as using unprecise weapons.
In the city of Izium, in the east of Ukraine, that was recently liberated, a mass grave with more than 440 bodies was discovered. It appears that some of them were Ukrainian soldiers who took part in defending the city in March. Izium was under occupation since 1 April 2022. Numerous Ukrainian and foreign investigative organisation try to establish the reason of deaths in each case.
Preliminary results, according to Ukrainian police, show that some people were victims of a Russian airstrike on an apartment block in March, in which 47 people were killed. They also found 20 soldiers, some with their hands bound and one with a noose around his neck.
High Representative Josep Borrell stated that "the EU is deeply shocked by mass graves discovered by Ukrainian authorities."
"Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been leaving a trail of blood and destruction across Ukraine. Thousands of civilians have been already murdered, many more tortured, harassed, sexually assaulted, kidnapped, or forcibly displaced. This inhuman behaviour by the Russian forces, in total disregard of international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions, must stop immediately," Borrell added in his statement.
Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavský called to establish a special international tribunal to hold accountable those who are responsible for war crimes in Izium and other places.
See more disinformation cases, alleging that Mariupol maternity hospital shelling and Bucha massacre are fakes, that Ukraine commits wild provocations and war crimes, that Bucha is a fabrication, or that Bucha is a cover up for Ukrainian fascists torturing Russian prisoners of war.