DISINFO: Ukrainians behave like terrorist militants, kidnap civilians in Kursk
SUMMARY
There is data that Ukrainian militants kidnap people. They capture civilians and take them in an unknown direction. Often contact with them and their data is lost, where they went - whether they left the territory of Ukraine, whether they are in secret prisons or cellars. Ukrainian units behave like terrorist militants.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation about Ukrainians committing war crimes on Russian territory. This claim was made in the context of Ukraine's advance into Russia’s adjacent Kursk Region, which started on 6 August 2024.
This is an unsubstantiated claim. There is evidence to the contrary. Washington Post reporters, who visited the town of Sudzha, said they saw “no evidence that Ukraine’s military had looted or attacked civilians”. The Post also quoted Russian civilians as saying that “they were being treated well and did not know of any residents who had been killed”. Dozens of Russian POWs from the Kursk Region have been placed in a Ukrainian prison. They told reporters they were being treated humanely and had been provided medical treatment. These interviews were held in the presence of Red Cross officials.
Ukrainian troops are distributing humanitarian aid among local residents and the Ukrainian authorities are offering Russian citizens to evacuate from the Kursk region to Ukraine’s adjacent Sumy Region. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to organise evacuation corridors for Russian civilians who wanted to flee war-stricken Russian territory. Political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko said such a policy was important for Ukraine given the fact that Russia was trying to use hostilities in the Kursk Region to discredit Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces started an advance into Russia’s adjacent Kursk Region on 6 August 2024, aiming to create a buffer zone on Russian territory in order to save the bordering Ukrainian territories from continual Russian missile and drone attacks.
Ukrainians are routinely treated by pro-Kremlin media as "Nazis" and terrorists committing atrocities, in order to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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