No Evidence That the Bucha Massacre Was Staged
The Claim
Video shows Ukrainian soldiers moving corpses in Bucha to stage the scene for Western media.
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Emerging story
A video purporting to show Ukrainian soldiers placing corpses in a specific order after the Bucha massacre has gone viral on social media. Users who circulated the claim alleged that this was done to set the scene for Western media.
Misbarโs Analysis
Misbar has investigated the claim and found it to be misleading. The video circulating has been edited from the original, which shows the aftermath of the Bucha massacre in greater detail, including the process of dragging corpses.
Misbar's team was able to locate the original video by searching for the keywords "bodies," "corpses," "Bucha," "Soldiers," and "dragging" in both Ukrainian and English. The Associated Press Archive published the video on April 7, 2022.
According to the video's AP Archive storyline, a column of tanks and armored vehicles led by Ukrainian soldiers dragged the bodies off the street, fearing they were booby-trapped with explosives.
What Is a Booby Trap?
A booby trap, according to Merriam Webster, is "a concealed explosive device designed to detonate when some harmless-looking object is touched."
Misbar's team investigated the method of tying bodies on battlefields with ropes and discovered that it was a method of dealing with corpses suspected of being booby-trapped.
Description: Dragging bodies is commonly used when fearing booby traps.
Retreating Russian Soldiers Left Behind Booby Traps in Different Locations
Several news outlets have reported that Russian soldiers had booby-trapped corpses before retreating.
Furthermore, on April 2, 2022, President Zelenskyy warned that Russian soldiers who were retreating mined homes, equipment, and even bodies.
Anatoly Fedoruk, the Mayor of Bucha, previously told Al Jazeera that the bodies could not be collected due to fears that they had been booby-trapped by Russian soldiers.
According to a New York Times article published on April 2, 2022, Ukrainian soldiers tried to determine whether corpses were booby-trapped by tying them to ropes and moving or dragging them in several other locations, including Irpin, another suburb of Kyiv.
The death toll from the Bucha massacre is expected to exceed 300 people. It has been denounced by global media and described as a โnightmare,โ โhorror,โ and โhell.โ
Misbar has debunked other claims that suggested that the Bucha massacre was staged. No credible source has ever confirmed that any of the Bucha massacre's events were staged.
