Is it true that the Ukrainians released a video of their reprisal against the residents of Kupyansk for the atrocities of Russian soldiers?

A video went viral showing people in military uniform dumping the bodies of the dead into a dug hole. According to Ukrainian Telegram channels, it is Russian soldiers who are killing civilians in Kupyansk, but Russian media allegedly discovered inconsistencies in the video. We have checked the arguments of both sides.

On October 9, former commander of the Azov regiment Maxim Zhorin published in his Telegram channel video, which allegedly shows the massacre of the civilian population of the city of Kupyansk by the Russian military. On the same day, Russian media reportedthat the video actually depicts Ukrainian soldiers who entered the abandoned Kupyansk in early September. According to Russian sources, the killed citizens are civilians who “did not want to cooperate with Ukrainian militants.” Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation excited a criminal case regarding the murder of civilians of Kupyansk, and the ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova asked international human rights organizations to conduct an investigation.

The Ukrainian city of Kupyansk has been under the control of Russian troops since February 2022. September 10, authorities of the Kharkov region announcedthat the Ukrainian military liberated the city. About the same reported and the former “Minister of Defense” of the self-proclaimed DPR, Igor Girkin (Strelkov), who often comments on the actions of Russian troops.

Video showing bodies of civilians being dumped into a mass grave for the first time appeared in the Telegram channel “Catharsis” with the caption “We received a video from Kupyansk before its de-occupation. How Russian pigs destroyed the Ukrainian civilian population.” The post was published at 13:26 and edited at 13:50 Moscow time. At 14:12 the same video with a link to “Catharsis” published former commander of the Azov regiment Maxim Zhorin with the caption “Still occupied Kupyansk, Kharkov region. Civilian population. There will be retribution!” Some Russian Media They decided that in this way Zhorin admits the guilt of the Ukrainian military and “intimidates civilians who do not want to cooperate with Ukrainian militants.” An hour and a half later, Zhorin edited the post, clarifying that “the video was taken from the phone of the occupier (Russian military - ed.).” Saved on the Internet screenshots his original and edited post.

The next day in the Telegram group “Catharsis» and channel Zhorina Another fragment of the same video appeared, where two soldiers lead a man to the top of a hill before throwing his body into a hole. “Catharsis” captioned: “Here is the beginning of that video where the guy is being led to execution. The Russian language is clearly visible.” The channel clarified that it cannot publish the full video because it is under investigation.

Opinions on the Internet are divided. Ukrainian side asserts, that the video was filmed by Russian soldiers during the occupation of Kupyansk by Russian troops, and then somehow got to the authors of the Ukrainian channel “Catharsis”. Russian side believes, that the video features Ukrainian soldiers who organized the massacre of residents of Kupyansk who collaborated with the Russian administration.

Evidence from the Ukrainian side

1. Red bandage. A red bandage is visible on the thigh of one of the soldiers leading a man to execution. Such red bands, according to the statement Russia Today, used by the Russian military and DPR attack aircraft. However, nothing prevents the Ukrainian military from wearing a red bandage in order to later accuse the Russian side of war crimes.

2. The video was taken from the phone of a Russian soldier. “Katharsis” and Zhorin only mention that the video “came to them” allegedly from the phone of a Russian soldier, but do not provide any evidence or details. It is not possible to verify where it actually came from.

3. Chevron with the Russian flag. Channel authors "Catharsis» claimthat on the uniform of one of the military men a chevron with the Russian tricolor is visible. However, due to the poor video resolution, it is difficult to determine exactly what is depicted on the chevron. Besides usually The Russian military wears a sleeve insignia with a flag on the left shoulder. And on the right is a sign of belonging to a specific military formation.

Evidence from the Russian side

1. The red bandage was applied in a video editor. How writes "Ren-TV», “if you watch the video in slow motion, you will notice inept editing - when a Nazi with a bandage moves in the frame, it “floats” and remains on the bushes. It turns out that the people in the video have nothing to do with the Russian army.” In fact, if you do a frame-by-frame analysis of this fragment, you can see that the bandage on the soldier's right leg moves in accordance with his steps up the hill. The illusion arises due to the poor resolution of the video and due to the fact that the military man, taking a step with his left foot, leaves his supporting right foot behind for a second, while his body continues to move forward. In any case, it is impossible to say with certainty that the bandage was added to the frame using a video editor.

2. A warm jacket and fallen leaves. Russian side assertsthat the video could not have been filmed during the occupation of Kupyansk by Russian troops, who left the city in early September. Firstly, there are a lot of fallen leaves in the video, but “in the photographs from the city that Ukrainian soldiers published in early September, it is clear that there were no fallen leaves there.” Secondly, the body of one of the killed men in the video is dressed in a warm red down jacket, and the Russian military left the city before the onset of cold weather. In fact, if you compare the state of nature in the video with photographs Kupyansk shortly after liberation, not much difference is noticeable. As for warm clothes, judging by photos, at the beginning of September, many residents were already putting on down jackets. In addition, you should not draw conclusions about the weather based on the clothes of the murdered man. The other two killed civilians in the pit were wearing light sweaters, the military man with a red bandage was wearing a T-shirt. And the man who is sliding down in the video is almost naked.

3. Metadata. Russian Telegram users performed a metadata analysis that showed, that the video was created on October 9 at 13:24 - two minutes before it was published by the Catharsis channel. However, a meta-analysis of Telegram videos does not show the date the video was created, but rather the date it was originally uploaded to the platform. For example, the fragment "Solovyov Live"from October 6, posted by the Catharsis channel on October 9 at 13:03, according to meta-analysis was created at 13:03 (or 10:03 UTC). A video, in which two soldiers lead a man to be shot, according to a meta-analysis, was created on October 10 at 19:34. Not only is this a day later than the episode where the man is already dead, but it should have already been dark at eight o’clock in the evening. Therefore, you should not rely on the “creation date” specified in the meta-analysis - it only indicates the date the video was originally uploaded to the Telegram platform.

So, the information available to us at the time of publication does not give an exact answer as to who shot this video and which country’s military were depicted in it. The accusations of both sides remain unsubstantiated. We cannot yet verify them using fact-checking.

Cover image: Telegram

This is not accurate

What do our verdicts mean?

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