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    #28 Archived Message

    Posted by Ian M on August 2, 2022, 12:14 am, in reply to "Project: to find 29 examples of the BBC failing 'due impartiality' in Ukraine reporting"

    #28: Ukrainians say Russian soldiers used them as human shields, April 7th:





    Newsreader: 'There has been further Russian shelling of towns and cities in eastern Ukraine. Russia is expected to intensify its offensive there over the coming weeks. Meanwhile there has also been more evidence of potential Russian war crimes in the area very close to Kiev itself. The BBC has been told that Russian troops in Ivankiv rounded up civilians and used them as human shields. Families say they were taken at gunpoint to a local school and held there for 24 hours as the Russians tried to stop Ukrainian forces taking back their village. Our correspondent Jeremy Bowen's report contains details you may find distressing.'

    Reporter Jeremy Bowen: 'Deep in the forest towards the border with Belarus Ukrainian forces were securing the territory the Russians have left. Large areas are hard to reach as bridges are down and roads blocked by mines. On the edge of the exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster is a village called Termehifka [?]. [Bowen in camera footage: "Really swampy ground"]. Everyone wanted to talk about the Russians. Bogdan shared a place where Russian soldiers made him dig a shallow grave to bury a man they'd killed. ["And they had to sleep under these rags?"] He said that with four other young men he was held as a prisoner for 15 days in the open, often bound and blindfolded, threatened with fake executions then one shot him in the leg.

    Bogdan [showing a wound on his leg]: 'He put me on the bench, aimed his machine gun at me and shot my knee. It's because my younger brother was in the army. They found his military cap and photos.'

    Jeremy Bowen: 'Ukrainian soldiers and others said the Russians had used civilians as human shields in the next Village Obukhovychi. It's a small place on a lake. The Russians tried unsuccessfully to blow up the dam before they left. The people of Obukhovychi are still traumatized by the Russian occupation and by the 24 hours when they were held as human shields at the village school. Ivan said it was chaos, children were crying, everyone was crying. ["How would you describe the experience?]'

    Ivan: 'Vandals, fascists. I don't want to think about the Russians, they're not people.'

    Jerey Bowen: ["What happened that day?"] "They were getting bombarded, that's what," said Ludmilla. She said at night the Russians forced them out of cellars where they'd been sheltering, pointing their machine guns. They broke open the doors if people didn't answer them. ["On the 14th of March there was heavy fighting in the area. The Ukrainians were on the attack, the Russians were losing men. That night the Russians went door to door in the streets around here and at gunpoint marched - estimates vary, 100 to 150 - people of all ages, old people, children as well and they put them in that school and they held them as human shields. Maria [?] said she survived the second world war.'

    Maria: 'They were like the Germans except they spoke Russian so I knew what they were saying.'

    Jeremy Bowen: 'We were invited into the house. Maria, the great grandmother was left behind, terrified about the rest of the family who were held in the freezing cold school gymnasium. Marina said her daughter still shows signs of anxiety.'

    Marina: 'I was afraid I'll be shot in that gym. I was scared for my daughter. I don't have the words. I'm still frightened. Machine guns. I'm sorry, I'm going to cry.'

    Jeremy Bowen: 'Slowly this part of Ukraine is being reconnected to the rest of the country. A temporary crossing has replaced a bridge the Russians blew up as they retreated. Many families were using the chance to get out of the war zone. Anna Shishka [?] was desperate.'

    Anna Shishka: 'We've been in the cellar for more than a month. My daughter has a new baby. They stole everything. I cut my hair so I wouldn't get raped.'

    Jeremy Bowen: 'Further down the road is the village of Zahatzi [?], destroyed in the fighting. The only person left is Stefan. He used to have a neighbor. Stefan took us to his home. He died on his own three weeks ago while the village was in Russian hands. Animals have eaten the flesh from his head. He had basic medications but it's not clear how he died. It is clear that the occupiers didn't help him. Where Ukrainian forces are back evidence is accumulating that Russian troops repeatedly broke the laws of war. The question is how the Russians are treating civilians in the places which they still occupy.'

    *****

    No comment from Russian officials in response to the serious allegations about use of civilians as human shields, mistreatment of prisoners and other abuses. Again, the BBC only ever seems to report on alleged crimes from the Russian military forces. Viewers are left to assume the Ukrainian military have scrupulously followed the 'laws of war' and behaved unimpeachably to civilians and the opposing armed forces.

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