Russia spreading fake to Western audience that torture in Bucha was carried out by Ukraine's military
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and accounts on the social media platform X in French and German are once again trying to convince Western society that the torture of civilians in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, was carried out not by the Russians, but allegedly by the Ukrainian military. As evidence, the authors of the fake seem to refer to the words of the Czech soldier Philipp Siman, who fought on the side of Ukraine and is currently under investigation. To make the fake look more authentic, the fakers added a screenshot of a news story from the X account of the Czech news agency CTK, which says an offense was committed by the Czech.
It turned out that Siman is currently on trial, but the case is not about torture at all. The CTK story referred to by the propagandists states that the prosecutor's office accuses him of illegal service in the Ukrainian army and looting in the combat zone during the occupation of the cities of Irpin and Bucha in the Kyiv region in 2022. According to prosecutor Martin Bily, he served as a soldier in the Ukrainian volunteer battalion "Karpatska Sich" at the end of March 2022. The Czech did not have permission from the president of the republic to fight in a foreign army.
In addition, according to the indictment, in his free time, Siman repeatedly appropriated the belongings of both dead soldiers and civilians. Those items included a gold ring, investment bullion, other jewelry, cash, and more, the prosecutor said. The man was detained by the Ukrainian army in April 2022, but was later released and returned to the Czech Republic.
The Czech news agency CTK confirmed in a comment to Ukrinform that it was a fake and that they did not write about the atrocities of Ukrainians.
In addition, according to the Czech news site Novinky.cz, Siman also shared the horrors of war. He said that a video of six Russian soldiers raping a mother of two children was found in the phone of a detained Russian.
Following the withdrawal of Russian forces from Bucha at the end of March 2022, evidence emerged of atrocities committed by the Russians during the occupation of the city. Subsequently, propagandists from the aggressor country resorted to numerous attempts to "whiten" the reputation of their army through fakes, disinformation and all kinds of manipulations.
Such statements by the Russians were refuted by numerous journalistic investigations conducted by the leading international media, including Bellingcat and Associated Press.
Ukrinform reported earlier that the UN's independent international commission investigating violations in Ukraine had confirmed that there were cases of the Russian military carrying out executions and ill-treatment in Bucha, Kyiv region.
Investigations into the torture of civilians by the Russian military in Bucha continue to this day. On July 10, 2024, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office announced that seven Russian soldiers involved in atrocities in the city had been identified and declared suspects.
Earlier, Ukrinform refuted a fake about Ukrainian soldiers who were mobilized from a penal colony.
Dmytro Badrak
