- Sputnik International, 1920, 25.02.2022
Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine
On February 24, 2022 Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev's forces.

Zelensky Says Senior European Politician Asked Him If Bucha Provocation Was Staged

© Photo : Twitter / @JuliaDavisNewsA screenshot from the video shot in Bucha, Ukraine showing an alleged dead body
A screenshot from the video shot in Bucha, Ukraine showing an alleged dead body - Sputnik International, 1920, 09.04.2022
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Last week, Ukrainian authorities and Western media began to spread gruesome footage purportedly showing murdered civilians lying along a road in Bucha, a suburb of Kiev, citing it as evidence of “Russian war crimes.” Moscow dismissed the footage as a provocation, pointing out that the bodies appeared days after Russian troops had withdrawn.
A European head of government asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to provide confirmation that the events in Bucha were not staged.
“Show us evidence that it wasn’t staged,” Zelensky said, quoting the official, in an interview with Bild.
The Ukrainian president did not reveal which politician made the request, except to say that it wasn’t German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and characterized the comments themselves as vile.
“That’s what a European leader told you?!” his interviewer interjected. “Yes, I cannot say who,” Zelensky said. “But it wasn’t Scholz, that’s true,” Zelensky answered.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited Bucha on Friday, posing for photo opportunities in front of black body bags put out on display in a field. “We have seen the cruel face of Putin’s army. We have seen the recklessness and cold-heartedness with which they have been occupying the city…The whole world is mourning with the people of Bucha,” von der Leyen said.
Bucha Provocation
Moscow has vocally dismissed claims that its troops committed the crimes, calling the West’s allegations a “monstrous forgery,” and pointing out that the timeline of Ukrainian claims of mass killing of civilians by Russian troops don’t line up with the time of their withdrawal from Bucha.
The Russian MoD said its forces had left the suburb on 30 March as Ukrainian forces shelled it with artillery, tank fire and multiple launch rocket systems.
A cursory forensic analysis of Ukrainian officials’ social media pages and Ukrainian media appears to corroborate the MoD’s position. On 31 March, Bucha mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk announced on his Facebook page that the town had been fully “liberated” “from Russian orcs, from Russian occupiers”, making no mention of any atrocities against civilians.
On 2 April, Ukraine’s National Police entered the town, and filmed a video showing damage to local infrastructure, crumpled cars, destroyed buildings, and one casualty in a vehicle but no bodies shown strewn along the roads –which would appear in the famous footage released later by the Ukrainian military.
Also on 3 April, the New York Times and other media reported in their live update reporting that the neo-Nazi Azov Regiment fighters had entered the town along with units of the Kiev Territorial Defence Force.
Ukrainian soldiers are pictured on their military vehicle, amid Russia's invasion on Ukraine in Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 2, 2022. - Sputnik International, 1920, 03.04.2022
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Shortly after, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry accused Russian forces of executing civilians, releasing the horrifying footage of corpses strewn along roads which went viral and been used extensively by Western outlets as evidence of “Russian war crimes.”
This handout satellite image released by Maxar Technologies on April 4, 2022 shows a view of Yablonska Street in Bucha, Ukraine, on March 19, 2022. - - Sputnik International, 1920, 05.04.2022
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