Two clips have come up today showing a massacre and its aftermath in the town of Kupyansk. In one clip, just seven seconds long, one can see a corpse tumbling down a hill and landing into a ditch where three other bodies lay:
In another clip, only two seconds long, one can see bodies in the ditch with a nearly naked man (blindfolded and bound) being taken up a hill where he will be executed (this is the same man whose lifeless body would roll into the ditch):
Ukrainian media is blaming this massacre on Russian soldiers. But according to Russian media outlets, the videos were originally posted by a leader of the Azov National Battalion, Maxim Zhorin. Russian media outlets have also been reporting that the EXIF date for the videos indicates that the clips were recorded on October 9th. Russian soldiers left Kupyansk before the middle of September in the face of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. On September 11th, Radio Free Europe reported that Ukrainian intelligence “confirmed that its forces had entered the strategically important town of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region.” The same article states that “on September 10, the Ukrainian military announced that the Ukrainian flag had been raised in Balaklia and its troops had entered Kupyansk”. Another article, published by 19Fortyfive, details that “By Sept. 9, Ukrainian forces had reached western Kupyansk, effectively blocking its usage as a rail junction. A day later, they fully controlled the city.” So since September 10th Kupyansk has been under the Ukrainians. If the clips showing the murders were recorded on October 9th, weeks after the Russians left Kupyansk, how could these killings have been done by Russian forces since the town has been under Ukrainian control? Ukrainian journalist, Anatoly Shariy, wrote on his Telegram account: “PERSONALLY, my opinion is that the video shows the massacre of civilians who collaborated with the Russian authorities.” Plus, these videos are just coming out today. If this massacre was done by the Russians, it makes sense that these clops would have come out earlier, since the Russians left before the middle of September.
After the Ukrainians took control of Kupyansk, hundreds of pro-Russia residents fled in fear of Ukrainian forces. There is video showing this:
Russian volunteers are reporting a queue of around 500 cars formed on the way from Kupiansk to the Belgorod Region. A line of refugees formed on the way to the checkpoint in Logachevka.
"There are over 400-500 cars in the queue and around 200 people on foot." pic.twitter.com/hGjBPocDMP
— JAMnews (@JAMnewsCaucasus) September 10, 2022
It would not be surprising at all if the Ukrainians committed these murders and then blamed it on the Russians. We find in WW2 history that the Germans committed such a trick. Polish historian, Tadeusz Piotrowski, writes that “While the Germans were liquidating the Jewish ghettos, this Nazi-controlled press was telling the world that the Poles were responsible” (Piotrowski, Poland’s Holocaust, ch. 2, p. 22). Since the whole Western media apparatus is against Russia, it would not be shocking to find that such a propaganda scheme is being done.