Footage posted by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and photographs from news agencies showed the bodies of men in civilian clothes on the streets of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv. Images showed some corpses with hands bound behind their back.
A screenshot of the original NYT piece was attached to my tweet. It included the sentence:
The New York Times was unable to independently verify the assertions by Ukraine's Defense Ministry and other officials.
The above tweet went viral with more than 3,000 retweets and nearly 5,000 likes. People obviously recognize the importance of the above timeline for the question of who killed whom, when and how.
Gonzalo Lira, who is in Karkiv, has previously directed a professionally made movie. In this video he asserts that the main 'Russian' atrocity video, which shows cars driving down a street strewn with dead bodies, is of a professional high production quality that can only be achieved with high end equipment. He also remarks on additional evidence from the scenes that points to a false flag operation.
Lira comes to the conclusion that the Azov Nazis have killed some people in Bucha that had been too friendly with the Russian 'occupiers' and are now blaming Russia for it.
Azov gangs are known for such atrocities. Based on the above timeline I concur with Lira's conclusion.
April 4, 2022
The Bucha Provocation
The Bucha 'Russian' atrocities propaganda onslaught may have worked well in the 'west' but it lacks evidence that Russia had anything to do with it.
The former Indian ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar calls it an outright fake:
An indignant Moscow has angrily demanded a United Nations Security Council meeting on Monday over the allegations of atrocities by Russian troops in areas around Kiev through the past month. Prima facie, this allegation is fake news but it can mould misperceptions by the time it gets exposed as disinformation.
A Tass report says: “The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that the Russian Armed Forces had left Bucha, located in the Kiev region, on March 30, while “the evidence of crimes” emerged only four days later, after Ukrainian Security Service officers had arrived in the town. The ministry stressed that on March 31, the town’s Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk had confirmed in a video address that there were no Russian troops in Bucha. However, he did not say a word about civilians shot dead on the street with their hands tied behind their backs.”
Even more surprising is that within minutes of the “breaking news”, western leaders — heads of state, foreign ministers, former politicians — popped up with statements duly kept ready and only based on the videos, seconds-long videos and a clutch of photos, ready to pour accusations. No expert opinion was sought, no forensic work was done, no opportunity given to the accused to be heard.
Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov battalion walked through the remnants of a Russian military convoy in the recently liberated town of Bucha on Saturday, just outside the capital after the Russians withdrew.
WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. military is not in a position to independently confirm Ukrainian accounts of atrocities by Russian forces against civilians in the town of Bucha, ... ... "The Pentagon can't independently and single handedly confirm that, but we're also not in any position to refute those claims."
Moon of Alabama continued:
If the Pentagon, which includes the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, could not confirm what the government in Kiev claimed, who else could?
Certainly not the European minions who reacted to those dubious claims by removing more Russian embassy personal from their countries.
The U.S. is again pushing the Europeans into suiciding their economies. The U.S. would of course be the only country that would gain from that.
It’s over. The Ukraine has lost the war. Its navy, air force and defense industry no longer exist. The Russia air force is doing hundreds of bombing runs per night eliminating any fuel and ammunition depot that is left in Ukraine.
Without fuel tanks and trucks are immobilized. Without ammunition artillery falls silent. The heavy Ukrainian units along Donbas are now unable to do maneuver warfare. They can not even flee. Replenishment and reserves are unable to reach them. They have the choice of giving up or getting destroyed in place.
Anyone who is still pushing more weapons into Ukraine or tells Kiev to prolong the war is putting more Ukrainian lives at risk for zero potential gain.
That's criminal.
This is an analysis of the UN Security Council lynch mob published by Larouche Executive Intelligence Review (EIR).
Simply put, the 3.5-hour emergency meeting of the UN Security Council today divided into two groups—those who thought it the responsibility of the Security Council to investigate the allegations of war crimes in Ukraine, including those in Bucha, Mariupol, and the Donbas, and those who close down any such investigation. The latter, led by Britain’s Ambassador Barbara Woodward, serving this month’s president of the Security Council in her capacity as U.K. Permanent Representative, loudly proclaimed that they already know the Russians are guilty, they are the real Nazis, and they must be thrown out of any civilized body. By shutting down the UN Security Council’s proper role, the side arrangement made the previous day by the European Union and Kyiv to handle any “investigation” would be able to manufacture the narrative.
Hence, the bizarre situation arises where Woodward, as acting president of the Security Council—besides calling for an investigation whose the result has already been pronounced—calls for one that bypasses the UN. Rather, it is to be done by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General along with “other national prosecutors.” That was her expression for the EU arrangement made yesterday, while she prevented the Security Council from holding its “emergency” session.
China’s position was the most clearly stated. The Security Council had the job of deescalating tension and working for an early end to the fighting. Russia and Ukraine should stick to negotiations, and the international community should create space for, not roadblocks against, negotiations. They should certainly not add more fuel to the fire. Both parties need to minimize civilian casualties. Humanitarian issues should not be politicized. Neutrality and impartiality are key.
The Bucha reports are certainly disturbing and serious enough to require verification, because the Security Council must base matters on facts before conclusions are drawn. Unfounded accusations and the rush to sanctions create more spillover problems. Sanctions are instrumentalizing and weaponizing the world economy, and especially harm the developing countries. It is more than 30 years since the end of the Cold War, so maybe it is time for some profound reflection. The small and medium-size countries of the world should not be forced to take sides; and the security of one cannot be achieved at the expense of others. Rather, the accumulated differences over the years must be addressed in order for an effective security arrangement. The constructive and responsible role is to promote the peace talks.
It is worth noting that six other countries stood up in their own way, all choosing not to join a lynch mob. Brazil called for a thorough investigation of all reports, without pre-judging either side. They had a responsibility to address the situation in an effective manner, but that is exactly what the Security Council is not doing. That is not the discussion being had. There must be no politicization of humanitarian efforts, no one-sided accusations.
Gabon said that there must be a “UN-led,” free and independent inquiry for Bucha, as “mud-slinging” will not achieve peace. We must remember our mission, which is to work for peace. The Istanbul diplomacy begun on March 29 must achieve a ceasefire soon.
Kenya posed that a continued abuse of the UN Charter over the past years by the major powers has led to the situation they are now in. The UN is losing prestige and needs to reform. Certain urgent steps are needed, beginning with a UN investigation, neutral and prompt, in Bucha and elsewhere in Ukraine. Both parties must make clear to their military personnel that they will be held responsible. And the UN needs to restore its credibility by also paying attention to the crises in Afghanistan, Haiti, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, etc.
India made a carefully worded statement for an independent investigation of the Bucha allegations, based upon international law. Neutrality, impartiality, and independence must prevail.
Ghana urged for an independent and impartial investigation into the reports of gross violations in Bucha, but also Mariupol, Kharkiv, and elsewhere. All violators must be held responsible. Also, since there was progress at the March 29 session with Russia and Ukraine, the Security Council should make sure to support confidence-building measures in that process. It is the only way to have unified actions.
Finally, the United Arab Emirates, which had held the UNSC chair in March before the U.K. took over, emphasized that the Security Council must establish what actually has happened, and not get caught up in a war of narratives. They must allow the existing institutions to examine the facts on the ground. False narratives and disinformation are the danger, especially when digital information can so easily amplify hate. Technology increases the speed with which such harmful narratives affect the situation on the ground, and that is a real danger.
The following is the transcript of the statement read by the charming British Ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward at Tuesday’s United Nations Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
I will now make a statement in my capacity as the Representative of the United Kingdom.
President Zelenskyy, by video, Secretary-General, Colleagues,
The United Nations was created in the wake of a European war of aggression that laid waste to Europe and engulfed the world.
All of us who signed the UN Charter committed to ending the scourge of war, to fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of the human person, the equal rights of nations large and small, to justice, and respect for international law.
Yet now, we are facing another war of aggression in Europe.
We have heard today, again, the devastating impact of Russia’s unilateral and illegal military action in Ukraine. Its impact on surrounding countries and the region, and on the security and prosperity of the wider world, as it seeks to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
thousands killed
millions displaced
cities razed to the ground
hospitals bombed
citizens cut off from food, water and medicine
blockaded sea ports and the rapid increase in wheat prices
pressure on already stretched humanitarian resources
And now, as Russia is forced into retreat from areas around Kyiv, the brutality of the invasion is laid bare. We have all seen the horrific images from the towns of Bucha and Irpin of civilians deliberately killed in areas from which Russian forces have recently withdrawn — and the video we saw earlier underlined that horror.
These acts, and other credible incidents, must be investigated as war crimes, and the UK fully supports the work of the International Criminal Court and the work of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General and other national prosecutors.
Colleagues, as we, and so many others, have said so many times, all of this could be stopped if the Russian Federation ended this war now.
I resume my function as President of the Council.
During President Zelenskyy’s very long 16 minute video speech he urged the UN Security Council to expel Russia “so it cannot block decisions about its own war.” He also said that Russian forces had committed “the most terrible war crimes” since World War II in Ukraine, two days after footage “emerged” of dead bodies in the streets of Bucha near Kyiv. You can read the transcript of his speech here.
At the end of his speech Zelenskyy makes these remarks:
And finally, I’m asking you to watch the video. A short one.
A video of what has come to replace your power because someone alone can abuse his rights.
This is what impunity leads to.
This is Zelenskyy’s video clip. I have my own thoughts about it but welcome your’s. Viewer discretion is advised.
Gilbert Doctorow’s blog from the 4th of April resonates.
Several weeks ago, US President Joe Biden warned gravely that Russia would soon be making a chemical weapons attack in Ukraine, thereby violating international conventions and exposing itself to the severest punishment of the world community. Alternatively, the Russians would arrange a radiation leak by attacking one or another of the nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
Happily, neither dastardly act was carried out by the Russians to cover up their supposed losing position in the war being waged against the brave Ukrainians, who enjoy the unstinting support of the NATO alliance.
Instead, a very different kind of war crimes scandal has been promoted in the past two days to achieve the very same objective of universal outrage. The consequence is demands by French President Macron and Chancellor Scholz of Germany for still more draconian measures against the barbarians to the East, namely a full embargo on Russian hydrocarbons, even if it spells suicide for European industry and economies generally. These two birds sang before the microphones almost simultaneously yesterday afternoon denouncing the atrocities supposedly committed by Russian soldiers as they withdrew from their siege of Kiev.
Yes, my commentary introduces a note of sarcasm in speaking about a propaganda operation that is obvious as day to anyone with half a wit and half a memory. It all takes us back to 2014 and the MH17 catastrophe which was laid at the door of Russia within minutes of its occurrence, without any need for an investigation.
As to the murder of civilians in the city of Bucha, a northern suburb of Kiev, and similar photographic accounts from several other settlements evacuated by Russian troops in the past few days, the vicious propaganda narrative coming from Kiev, but surely scripted in Washington and London, raises no alarm bells in the Western media. But then again, there is no collective memory in Western media of what happened on the Maidan, when U.S. backed neo-Nazi units employed snipers to murder peaceful street demonstrators and police in support of a totally fabricated story of police violence by the Yanukovich government to justify its illegal ouster in a coup d’etat. Those same cynical murderers have been in control of Ukrainian politics up to the present day.
It has been reported extensively by Russian television crews traveling with the Donbas republic forces how departing Ukrainian troops fired wantonly on the towns they had been occupying for the past eight years but now were forced to give up. It has been extensively reported by Russian press teams interviewing refugees leaving Mariupol via humanitarian corridors how the Azov battalion and other nationalist radical troops attached to the Ukrainian army were shooting anyone daring to come out of the basements to risk joining the escape routes out of the city. None of this was picked up by Western media. But it surely was picked up by the Kiev propagandists, who decided to turn it inside out and sell it further.
In summation, there are reasons why wars are fought to the death, why many crucial disputes between nations are not amenable to diplomacy until one of the sides has been utterly destroyed. We are living through such a moment in history. And it is most sad, here in Europe, to see elected leaders like Macron, like Scholz play along with the villains to gain favor with the overlord in Washington, D.C. May their cowardice and betrayal of the interests of their own peoples be recorded here and now for posterity.
April 3, 2022 (EIRNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, showing a great deal of nervous energy in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” this morning, nonetheless did not jump at interviewer Dana Bash’s crazy question, “Is this genocide?” with respect to images of destroyed buildings and dead bodies in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. Blinken said, “Look, we will look hard and document everything that we see, put it all together, make sure that the relevant institutions and organizations that are looking at this—including the State Department—have everything they need to assess exactly what took place in Ukraine, who’s responsible, and what it amounts to.”
Evidence of war crimes by Ukrainian forces, under international law, have been admitted to, making charges of Russian war crimes difficult, in several articles in the Washington Post. On March 29 the Post ran a lengthy account of the video of torture of Russian POWs by soldiers with insignia of the Ukrainian armed forces, already reported in the Briefing when the video was circulated by former Virginia State Sen. Richard Black. “The actions depicted would be considered war crimes under the Geneva Conventions, which also prohibit prisoners of war from being used as ‘public curiosity,’ ” the article noted. “Human rights groups have urged Ukraine to stop holding news conferences with captured Russian soldiers and posting their images online, warning that such actions would violate international law.” And it reported a second video, this one circulated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, showing Azov Battalion and other Ukrainian soldiers stripping and hog-tying Russian POWs in Vilkhivka, near Kharkiv.
The paper reported an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in what appears to be a strong shift of position, vowing that Ukraine would punish those responsible if an investigation confirmed the first video, taken north of the town of Malaya Rohan. “We are a European army, and we do not mock our prisoners,” said Arestovich, sounding like a Wells Fargo spokesman proclaiming that the bank never cheats its customers.
On March 30, the Post ran a lengthy front-page article (“As Russian Attacks Kill Civilians, Kyiv’s Defense Tactics Add to Their Danger”) explaining that U.S. and U.K. charges of war crimes against Russia would be hard to prove, given that Ukraine was clearly practicing the placement of tanks, artillery and missile launchers in heavily populated neighborhoods, which is a war crime under international law. Richard Weir of Human Rights Watch is quoted that Ukraine “has a responsibility under international law” to remove the forces and equipment, or the civilians, from residential areas. “If they don’t do that, that is a violation of the laws of war,” Weir says. But the same Zelenskyy advisor, Oleksiy Arestovich was quoted having “argued that international humanitarian laws or the laws of war don’t apply” to Ukraine because Putin is threatening to destroy it.
I will leave you with this video of Ukrainian soldiers who have been trained and armed to the teeth by NATO nations, especially the U.S. and UK whilst their own people become increasingly more impoverished and infrastructure falls deeper into disrepair. This was the description provided by the source:
Ukrainian soldiers arrest suspected pro Russia collaborators.
Warning strong footage the victims are violently assaulted by the Ukraine police officers.
The "West" (US, UK, CIA, France) appears to be utterly incapable of doing anything but lie.