DISINFO: Ukraine violates international humanitarian law while Russia respects it
SUMMARY
Kyiv violates international humanitarian law and these violations are well documented, while Moscow reaffirms its commitment to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Convention. Russia takes all precautions to protect civilians and infrastructure.
RESPONSE
The claim is false, aiming to deflect attention away from Russian atrocities and portray Russia in a positive light while denigrating Ukraine as part of its aggressive war against this country.
While international humanitarian observers have expressed concern about some isolated breaches of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian forces in the war, such as occasional mistreatment of Russian prisoners (which the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights described as “sporadic cases of torture and ill-treatment”) or suspicions of executing Russian soldiers who had surrendered, they didn’t find a systematic pattern of abuse. In addition, Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly expressed their willingness to address, investigate and punish potential abuses and war crimes by its own forces.
Contrary to what this disinformation story affirms, Russian forces have systematically violated international humanitarian law, including mass executions and torture, the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure and the forceful abduction of children.
There is massive evidence of Russian atrocities against civilians and other crimes throughout the invasion of Ukraine, including footage, drone and satellite images, incriminatory radio conversations, testimonies of witnesses and survivors, and forensic proof. Furthermore, these atrocities and war crimes follow a similar patter in most territories previously occupied by Russian troops, as in Bucha, Borodyanka, Chernihiv, Hostomel, Lyman, Kherson, Izyum or other areas of the Kharkiv region. This evidence has been documented by personnel of the Ukrainian prosecutor office backed by international advisors, as well as by UN investigators, International Criminal Court experts and reputed human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch, and international reporters. Russian authorities not only do not acknowledge these abuses and war crimes, but they have rewarded some suspected perpetrators of atrocities.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that war crimes accusations are war propaganda against Russia, that Ukraine staged fakes about Bucha, Mariupol and Kramatorsk, that Ukraine is setting up to accuse Russia of war crimes, or that Russian troops respected unilateral Orthodox Christmas truce while Kyiv continued bombing.