ARussian state-run media outlet on Monday sought to spin the alleged atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, claiming the slain civilians were “shot by Nazis.” Keeping in line with the Kremlin’s rhetoric that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, Komsomolskaya Pravda’s military correspondent, Alexander Kots, wrote an editorial about who he believes was behind the alleged massacres in the suburbs of Kyiv. Hundreds of bodies were found lying on streets in the town near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they were investigating potential war crimes by Russian forces after they withdrew from the town following intense fighting that began days after Putin launched an invasion on February 24. The Kremlin on Monday denied any accusations connected to the killing of civilians in Bucha. “Terrible footage was published by the Ukrainian side,” wrote Kots. “The Russian military was indiscriminately accused of torture and extrajudicial executions. The proof—only shots with unfortunate people on the streets, in basements.” Kots said he has “no doubt” that the images and videos show dead bodies, but questioned who shot the civilians, repeating the Kremlin’s assertions that all Russian forces had left Bucha on March 30. Ukrainian troops said they recaptured the town of Bucha on Saturday. “I was in the suburbs of Kyiv…in fact, the withdrawal of our units began even earlier. It’s just that by the 30th, there were not a single soldier from Russia left in Bucha,” said Kots. Kots alleged that Ukrainian forces didn’t realize immediately that Russian forces had withdrawn completely, and “continued to launch artillery strikes” in Bucha. He claimed that far-right political figure Sergei Korotkikh, also known by the nicknames “Malyuta” and “Boatswain,” gave the orders to fire at people who weren’t wearing blue bandages on their sleeves, which he said identifies them as a “friend” of Ukrainian forces. Some of the dead bodies shown in videos from Bucha showed individuals with a white bandage of their arm, Kots claimed. He said a white bandage “is an identification mark of Russian forces.”
via newsweek: Russian Media Spins Alleged Atrocities—’Shot by Nazis’