Butchery In Bucha — What Actually Happened In The Latest Atrocity Of The Ukraine-Russia War?
Analyzing accounts of mass civilian casualties in the Ukrainian town of Bucha
Over the weekend, on Sunday April 3rd, reports began to circulate through Ukrainian and eventually international media of alleged Russian war crimes in the town of Bucha, close to Kiev.
Photos and videos of dead civilians lining the streets, some seemingly executed with their hands tied behind their back, sent much of the world into a collective outrage as accusations of the massacre were immediately levelled at the retreating Russian military.
Moscow denies the accusations and have attempted to convene a UN Security Council meeting and called for an investigation of the claims.
Atrocities of this magnitude are indeed heinous and serves only to reinforce the insane barbarity of warfare and why Humanity should always collectively oppose their governments waging such senseless conflicts.
However the track record of those issuing the allegations are just as silly, therefore it requires thorough analysis. Lest we run the risk of falling victim to yet another false pretext for further military intervention.
By now, Western media is saturated with what is becoming the "accepted", “official” version of events. But dubious anomalies remain.
Pentagon officials announced Monday that they cannot independently verify whether or not the massacre was actually committed by the Russian military.
To be clear, even if Pentagon officials had claimed they had evidence the attack was committed by Russian forces, the claims would still be worth heavily scrutinizing. Considering the amount of disinformation American leaders have already spread.
As Ukraine's ongoing entrenchment in the information war demonstrates, at this point no allegation should be free from intense scrutiny.
Western audiences must accept that unsubstantiated talking points propagated by state officials to promote disingenuous narratives is not solely a characteristic exclusive to adversarial powers. But all too often practiced here as well.
Distinctively absent from Western media reports of the Bucha massacre is any critical questioning of several discrepancies.
First and foremost, why the world is only just now hearing of this atrocity.
As reported by Ukrainian state media, Mayor of Bucha Anatoliy Fedoruk posted a video update cheerfully informing the world that Bucha had been liberated from Russian invaders on March 31st. That no more Russian forces were present in the town.
Making no mention in the address of such atrocities of dead civilians lining the streets, mass graves, and extrajudicial executions.
So the question beggs, why hadn't the world heard of this monstrosity for nearly three whole days?
Compounding to that curiosity is the confirmed the presence of Azov fascists in Bucha shortly after the Russian troop withdrawal.
Video was published, and has since been deleted, by the former commander of the Azov Battalions’ reconnaissance unit Sergei Korotkikh, in which Ukrainian forces in Bucha can be heard asking “There are guys without blue armbands, can I shoot them?”, to which another man replies “Fuck yeah”.
Blue armbands are used as an indicator of Ukrainian military forces. In locations like Bucha, civilians wear white armbands to identify themselves as noncombatants.
Interesting to note however, in 2021, Zaborona media, based in Kiev, reported that a dossier from the National Policy Institute accused Korotkikh of working for Russian intelligence.
So at this point it may be difficult to ascertain which side it, if any, Korotkikh is actually on.
But the most bizarre anomaly to date appears to come from Ukrainian media itself.
In a video broadcast by Ukraine's Espresso TV, widely shared throughout Ukrainian mainstream media, when slowed down appears to show one of the "dead civilians" captured in the rearview mirror getting back up to his feet.
This is in no way meant to suggest that the entire atrocity is fabricated. But it does raise eyebrows when contextualized by the heaps of disinformation already disseminated by Ukrainian sources.
Such as in the case of allegations of Russian forces targeting civilians in the Marioupl theater, and maternity hospital. Both of which have now been challenged by eyewitness accounts.
Strategically speaking, the timing of this latest atrocity is also curious. Turning eyes back to Russian war crimes just as refugees from Mariupol begin to speak out against numerous crimes committed by Azov against Ukrainian citizens during the siege of the city. Along with tales of other Ukrainian war crimes continuing to come to the surface.
However, conflicting accounts do not absolve Russia of the potential blood on its hands. Surviving citizens of Bucha spoke to Al Jazeera telling of Russian artillery bombarding the area and ground forces firing indiscriminately at citizens.
One thing is for certain, when analyzing these events we all must do our best to put emotional biases aside and utilize discernment and critical thinking. Whatever the case may be, the likelihood is that both sides are being deceitful in one way or another, as it is certainly the modus operandi of governments to capitalize upon tragedies of opportunity to push their narrative.
The Biden Administration is doing just this to full effect as it continues to call Vladimir Putin a brutal war criminal and call for a war crimes tribunal.
Putin very well may be a war criminal, as he is most certainly a warmongering thug. Yet the hypocrisy of the American Empirt's grandstanding to demand its adversaries be tried for war crimes, while it simultaneously facilitates the world's worst humanitarian crisis in Yemen on top of a host of war crimes of its own is astounding.
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