Ukrainian propaganda

A quick case study of some recent examples and even some Russian counter-propaganda

The last few days, Bucha has been in the news. The Russians are said to have massacred civilians there, and this is used to try and push US and NATO leaders into more active participation in the war.

Several messages from pro-Russian sources claim otherwise, but they also show proof.

Let’s take a look.

On March 30, the Russian troops left Bucha. The next day, this was confirmed by Russian sources, but the Ukrainian General Staff seemed to deny that, while the mayor of Bucha on April 1 confirmed that there were no Russian soldiers left in his town.

On April 3rd, 3 days after the Russians left Bucha, Ukrainian forces move in, and videos are being circulated of corpses littering the streets of Bucha, which are circulated, among others, by Reuters.

Look at this picture:

A man has a relative killed, at least 2-3 days ago, and he has left his body on the street? untouched? Something doesn’t add up.

Two more images shared show what do look like actual corpses, or parts thereof (7/8 and 8/8). But they only show very limited detail, and go for shock effect, image 7/8 with the pink slipper, and 8/8 with the manicured nails. Civilians, women, children… But nothing identifying regarding place or time, nor other details that could help determining cause of death.

There have been reports that the southern outskirts of Bucha were shelled by the Ukrainians when the Russians left. Those 2 images could be from that, given that the body pats actually do look a few days old (contrast that with the images of the bodies in 5/8 and 6/8, which look as if they died only the day the picture was taken: much cleaner, no splashes, no dust/mud, no or very limited wetness, etc.) The one buried could have been caused by an exploding artillery shell.

But immediately, other people notice things that do not line up… moving corpses?

Link to telegram post and video: https://t.me/intelslava/24269

The Russian Ministry of Defense Telegram channel puts out the following:

And a little later:

And then we get this:

Michael Tracey @mtracey

For weeks, US media has been happy to take photos/video/claims produced by Ukraine government officials and present it as verified fact. They've abandoned all journalistic standards to assist the propaganda efforts of a foreign government openly lobbying for US military action

But now it gets more interesting:

Intel Slava Z points out that several of the victims shown carry white bandages, which is a marker of a ‘pro-Russian’ stance, to identify civilians easily for the Russian troops as friendlies. Intel Slava Z turned from ‘this is fake’ to ‘this is actually Ukrainians murdering pro-Russian Ukrianians!’ in the span of a day.

Russian counter-propaganda.

And yet, if you look in the first video of the moving corpses, they were ALSO wearing those white bandages. So did the Ukrainians really kill pro-Russian civilians? Or what that staged, too?

The plot thickens, as they say.

What is going on, here?

From what I can see, this: it is fake (too many incongruences: Russians left 3 days before Ukrainian army showed up: why leave bodies out on the street that long, especially those of your own family? Where are the marks of beginning decomposition and weathering, after lying in the open for 3 days in the rain? And a dead give-way (pun intended), the moving corpses. Dead bodies don’t move. Period. Actors do.).

But what did the Ukrianians try to do? Give a subliminal message to their own population NOT to wear those white bandages? Warn them against supporting the Russians? A veiled threat? Given how they have described the Russians, and how they openly talked about killing them all, women and children included (see Part 2 of my series the War for our Mind), this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

See also this website, talking about Bucha and other false flags: https://sonar21.com/bucha-massacre-a-ukrainian-false-flag/
 

It gets better. Russia is calling for a  UN Security Council meeting on this, to call for investigation of the ‘massacre of Bucha’. Yet it is the UK who is blocking that!

So here are the obvious questions we have to ask ourselves: cui bono? Who benefits?

Why would Russians kill civilians as they retreat, leaving the bodies to be found for the Ukrainian army and media that will be coming very soon? In this climate of information war and propaganda? Makes no sense.

Why would Russia do such open killing, and then call for an investigation? Makes no sense.

Why would the UK refuse such?

Ukraine, and their propaganda juggernaut, DO benefit from this story, and they are milking it in gruesome and shocking viewings, that our media copies without question. Aim: to create sympathy for the Ukrainian cause, and active support, and hatred for the Russian invaders.

But too much didn’t add up.

Watch how ‘Bucha’ will disappear from the news by the end of this week, the very latest. When this war is over, we’ll never hear from it again, just as with so many other such stories.

Edit:

Or maybe not.
A rule that is really important in all this propaganda, is the 48hr or even the 96hr rule: wait to make full judgement, until 2 to 5 days have passed, and see what additional information has come out that is relevant.

Just now, just 2 afters after I posted this article, from Intel Slava Z, and unconfirmed:

And much more damning:

I am trying to have this confirmed, and track down the location of those bottom 3 pictures.

If this holds up, this changes the narrative completely.

The official video, with the moving corpses, would still be a fake, an ‘improved’ foto op, better suited for consumption, and with less incriminating elements, such as the food rations, which would indeed point at revenge killing.

Which is, sadly, fully in line with the very harsh anto-Russian stance that Ukrainian made has made.

Either way: this is how quick narratives can change. So we have to be very careful not to jump to any conclusions, based on a single story, a single video, a single picture.

There is usually more to it, than what people want to make out.

______________


As an aside:

The Ukrainian propaganda now shamelessly uses the images of a girl tortured and killed in Mariupol by the Nazi battalion there, as a victim of the Russians in Gostomel.

And the pregnant woman from the attack on the maternity ward in Mariupol apparently released a video that showed the beauty blogger who featured so prominently in that story admitting that the whole story was false…

Things are so often not what they seem… And there is now a pattern of staged ‘news’.

As always, be skeptical with what you read, even this article. Don’t believe things at face value. We’re in a massive propaganda war, after all.
________________________

Also, I am happy to announce that tonight, April 4th, the great Patrick Gunnel will give a sneak preview reading of Part 3 of my series The War for our Minds on his show.

Catch it here:
https://www.twitch.tv/pgunnels