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Vladimir PutinPresident of Russia
This story contains graphic descriptions and images.
While most of the world gasped at the latest round of atrocities perpetrated by invading Russian troops in Ukraine, Kremlin propagandists and government officials are only doubling down. The shocking footage of the massacre that took place in the Ukrainian city of Bucha was repeatedly broadcast on Russian state television this week with the label “Fake” slapped across the screen.
During Monday’s broadcast of state TV show 60 Minutes, host Olga Skabeeva speculated that the town was chosen for an elaborate fabrication because of its name. “Biden said that Putin is a butcher. Bucha sounds like “butcher.” How could they not take advantage of such a town?” She later added: “President Putin described them all as “the Empire of lies,” and here is our confirmation.”
The so-called “lies” Skabeeva is referring to are the scenes of indescribable horror that were discovered by Ukrainian troops who arrived in Bucha this weekend after the Russian Army withdrew from the city. Scores of bodies, including those of women and children, were littered on roads and in yards, many of them found with their hands bound behind their backs and signs of rape or torture.
Dead bodies of five men are pictured, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, April 4, 2022.
REUTERS/Marko DjuricaRussian state media churned out ridiculous assertions, claiming in part that the corpses of women and children depicted in the footage from Bucha—some of which were charred beyond recognition—were “moving their arms,” “getting their limbs out of the way to avoid the wheels of military vehicles” or even “getting up and walking away.”
While scenes from Bucha made headlines around the world, Interfax published a report on a ceremony conducted by the Russian military on April 2, in which several awards were presented to the Airborne Forces (VDV) of the Russian Federation in the Kyiv region. According to state TV outlet Zvezda, that unit had been involved in “holding back the actions of the enemy forces” and “performing the cleaning of settlements” in Bucha.
