Moscow’s misinformation: Russian TV says Ukraine is attacking its own buildings
Russian state television is falsely telling its viewers that the Ukrainian government is committing war crimes against its own citizens as a means of justifying its ongoing invasion of the country.
On Rossiya 1 and Channel One, two of Russia’s most popular state-controlled media outlets, hosts and presenters have suggested “Ukrainian nationalists” are responsible for the bombing in and around the country’s major cities in the last week.
“They use civilians as a human shield, deliberately positioning strike systems in residential areas and stepping up the shelling of cities in Donbas,” one presenter said this week, according to the BBC.
The presenter went on to say Ukrainian forces “are preparing to shell residential houses” and bomb warehouses with ammonia, which he called “acts of provocation against civilians and Russian forces.”
Ukrainian and U.S. intelligence officials have said Russia has been carrying out relentless shelling of residential areas, schools and other government centers during the now weeklong invasion.
The Kremlin has repeatedly painted itself as a “liberating” force looking to “denazify” the Ukrainian government and take control of its neighbor to the West.
“Footage continues to be circulated on the internet which cannot be described as anything but fake,” a presenter on Channel One said this week while the broadcast showed photos of the devastation in Ukraine which were described as “unsophisticated virtual manipulations.”
On Monday, Russian officials restricted access to independent television channel Dozhd TV and liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy, accusing the outlets of broadcasting “deliberately false information” about its military efforts in Ukraine.
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