In its early phases, Ukraine’s counteroffensive is having less success and Russian forces are showing more competence than western assessments expected, two western officials and a senior US military official tell CNN.
Russian troops left Bucha in March 30, after the talks between Russian and Ukraninan sides in Istambul, where Russian side announced the willingnes to diffuse the situation near Ukranian capital. In the four days since the Russian military left Bucha, there has not been a single sign of atrocities, not a single mention of them in the media. On March 31 Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk, shot a video about the Russian military leaving the city. He say nothing about the streets being strewn with corpses. Photographer Konstantin Liberov was in the city of Bucha (Kyiv region of Ukraine) on April 1 and 2. While shooting a video and talking about the city, he does not mention anything about the corpses of local residents. The man was there as a volunteer. In his story, the photographer never once mentioned the corpses in Bucha. He also did not see any bodies in his numerous videos. However, he toured the entire city.
On April 2, the National Police of Ukraine entered the city. There is a long video of them clearing the city on the Internet. There are only no bodies scattered around the city exept one Russian soldier killed.
However as soon as the Ukrainian army enters the city, the corpses suddenly appears.
On the same day (April 2), units of the Kiev Territorial Defense enter Bucha from another direction - for a clean up operation. Among them was a detachment of a Botsman — prominent Russian neo-Nazi Serghei Korotkih, who escaped Russian justice in Ukraine. Their video footage shows one of the fighters asking, “Those guys over there without the blue armbands, can we shoot at them?” “You bet!” - happily answers the other.
Re: Bucha
https://twitter.com/r_u_vid/status/1510731844236455940
https://t.me/rybar/30540
Russian troops left Bucha in March 30, after the talks between Russian and Ukraninan sides in Istambul, where Russian side announced the willingnes to diffuse the situation near Ukranian capital. In the four days since the Russian military left Bucha, there has not been a single sign of atrocities, not a single mention of them in the media. On March 31 Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk, shot a video about the Russian military leaving the city. He say nothing about the streets being strewn with corpses. Photographer Konstantin Liberov was in the city of Bucha (Kyiv region of Ukraine) on April 1 and 2. While shooting a video and talking about the city, he does not mention anything about the corpses of local residents. The man was there as a volunteer. In his story, the photographer never once mentioned the corpses in Bucha. He also did not see any bodies in his numerous videos. However, he toured the entire city.
On April 2, the National Police of Ukraine entered the city. There is a long video of them clearing the city on the Internet. There are only no bodies scattered around the city exept one Russian soldier killed.
However as soon as the Ukrainian army enters the city, the corpses suddenly appears.
On the same day (April 2), units of the Kiev Territorial Defense enter Bucha from another direction - for a clean up operation. Among them was a detachment of a Botsman — prominent Russian neo-Nazi Serghei Korotkih, who escaped Russian justice in Ukraine. Their video footage shows one of the fighters asking, “Those guys over there without the blue armbands, can we shoot at them?” “You bet!” - happily answers the other.
Re: Mariupol
azov militants using civilians gathered in house as collateral shields to deter a russian strike on them
the Russian military’s strategy is to encircle ukrainian units, then allow a corridor for anyone who surrenders weapons/proves they aren’t part of the ukrainian military, particularly azov, but the ukrainian military according to testimonies of some in Donbass and Mariupol are not allowing civilians, particularly Russian speakers from DPR and LPR, to use the russian corridors, finding them more useful as human shields. This would imply that, despite the invasion, Russian federation cares at least a little bit about optics, even if only for cynical reasons.
https://youtu.be/nhLB5Wp1lGs
https://www.reddit.com/link/t9ibhw/video/lyvj5ykj96m81/player