What Really Happened In Bucha?

While the US admits that an independent investigation in Bucha is needed, Biden promised new sanctions against Russia. This, as the media claim their "smoking gun" is a series of satellite images from the DoD-connected Maxar Technologies, confirmed by the CIA-connected Bellingcat…

The United States has declared it is seeking Russia’s suspension from the UN Human Rights Council over reports of atrocities committed in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, which even the US ambassador to the UN admits have not been independently verified…

"As we work to independently confirm the events depicted in these images, I would remind this council that based on the currently available information, the United States has assessed that members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine," U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during a meeting on Tuesday.

It’s an interesting ask from the country whose rap sheet for the last decade includes Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Pakistan and Yemen. And yet, even though Joe Biden served as the vice president when the US was bombing all of those countries, he is now calling for Russia to be put on trial, as he doubled down on the allegation that Vladimir Putin is “war criminal.”

"You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter is we saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him … he is a war criminal. But we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight," Biden told reporters on Monday.

So, what do we know about what happened in Bucha? Well, judging by the timeline, we know that Russian forces were stationed in the city for weeks before they were ordered to leave by the Russian Government and they completely withdrew on March 30th. We know that on March 31st, the Mayor of Bucha posted a video on social media where he was smiling and celebrating, and he mentioned nothing about dead bodies in the streets…

Rachel Blevins @RachBlevins

So, Russia withdraws troops and the Mayor of Bucha declares the city has been liberated on March 31 in a celebratory message—with no mention of civilians deaths. Then Ukrainian commandos are deployed to Bucha on April 2, and the horrific images follow…

We know that Ukrainian commandos were then deployed to the city with the mission of “clearing the territory” of anyone who was sympathetic to Russia.

But here’s where it gets complicated… the Ukrainian Government claims that when their forces began to enter the city on April 1st, they found hundreds of dead bodies, with dozens lying in the streets. They sold the story that lead to headlines like this one from the New York Times, which claimed that Russian troops “shot everyone they saw.” Or this one from CNN, which quoted Zelensky in claiming that civilians were shot in the back of the head, and their bodies were left in the streets.

Russia’s response was to immediately deny the allegations and to call for an emergency UN Security Council meeting, which was denied by the acting president—that just happens to be the UK. Russia’s ambassador to the UN called the event a “staged provocation” and argued that Moscow has evidence proving it was not responsible for the alleged killing.

"From the very beginning, it has been clear that this is nothing else but yet another staged provocation aimed at discrediting and dehumanizing of the Russian military and leveling political pressure on Russia," said Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.

He went on to say, "We have factual evidence that proves this point. We intend to present it to Security Council as soon as possible so that the international community is not misled by the false narrative promoted by Kyiv and its Western sponsors."

That meeting finally did happen on Tuesday, in which Zelensky was made the star of the show, as he was quite literally cheered on by many of the UN Ambassadors, even as he claimed the only difference between Russia and ISIS was that Moscow was a member of the UN Security Council.

Even when the UN’s own Under-Secretary-General, who was previously the U.S. Ambassador, admitted that there were reports of prisoners of war being tortured, she insisted it was on both sides, and refused to acknowledge the horrific accounts of Russian soldiers being tortured by Ukrainian forced that have published on social media.

"We're also concerned of disturbing videos depicting abuse of prisoners of war on both sides. All prisoners of war must be treated with dignity and full respect for their rights in accordance with international humanitarian law," said Rosemary DiCarlo.

And then there are the satellite images… the New York Times is now claiming that some of the bodies on the streets were actually there for  3 weeks, citing satellite images from Maxar Technologies that were taken as early as March 9, in which bodies appeared to be in the same positions when Russian forces were occupying the town as they were when Ukrainian forces arrived.

And just a quick note about Maxar Technologies—the company currently has over $100 Million in Government contracts with customers that include the U.S. Department of Defense. They also have ties to Bellingcat — the “disinformation collective” that has received funding from the UK Foreign Office and one of the CIA’s favorite NGO’s, the National Endowment for Democracy. Bellingcat has a history of popping up in any event where a Western Government is looking to blame Russia, and they were conveniently the main group available to confirm the authenticity of those stateliest images.

But while all of the above has been quick to sell the narrative that the bodies in the streets were civilians executed by Russian forces looking to shoot anyone they saw… the article from the Times actually does note that when it comes to those bodies, “the causes of death are unclear,” and that “some of the bodies were beside what appears to be an impact crater.” 

So, in other words, were the bodies those of civilians that had been executed, and by whom? Or were they casualties of fighting within the city? And can we expect to get the truth from a media that has shown itself to be a blatant cheerleader for World War 3, as it ignores the horrific videos of Russian soldiers being tortured by Ukrainian forces, while at the same time skipping right over this clip from a recent interview Zelensky did where he shrugged off the reports of atrocities committed by neo-Nazi militias like the Azov Battalion, while admitting that they are incorporated into the Ukrainian Military…

Rachel Blevins @RachBlevins

When asked about reports that the Asov Battalion was committing atrocities against civilians, Zelensky said: “They are what they are. They were defending our country … those volunteer battalions later were incorporated into the Military of Ukraine.”

So, while the media provides wall to wall coverage from the streets of Ukraine—it’s important to remember that these are the same publications that sold you Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. They’re also the same networks that refuse to show you the aftermath of US airstrikes, the civilians they kill and the communities they destroy.

The media and politicians that claim to care about civilians in Ukraine are the same culprits that are once against criticizing anyone and rejecting anything that challenges the narrative they are trying to sell—and that’s something everyone should be talking about.