This article is from the source 'rtcom' and was first published or seen on . The next check for changes will be

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.rt.com/russia/608196-selidovo-atrocities-ukraine-miroshnik/

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Ukraine massacred civilians to blame Russia – witnesses Russia accuses Ukraine of massacring civilians in attempted ‘false flag’
(about 2 hours later)
Residents of Selidovo have testified about Kiev’s forces committing war crimesResidents of Selidovo have testified about Kiev’s forces committing war crimes
Mercenaries in Ukrainian service, including Polish nationals, executed a number of civilians in the city of Selidovo before fleeing advancing Russian forces, local residents have said. Moscow believes that Kiev wanted to use the massacre for a “false flag” claim of atrocities. The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused Ukrainian forces of executing civilians in a Donbass town as part of a “false flag” operation designed to wrongly frame Moscow for war crimes. Witnesses claim that mercenaries, including alleged Polish nationals, carried out the killings before retreating in the face of advancing Russian troops.
Selidovo sits about 15km south of Pokrovsk, in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic controlled by Kiev since 2014. In 2022 it had a population of around 21,000. Russian soldiers secured it completely on October 29. Selidovo, located about 15 kilometers south of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, was under Kiev’s control until it was fully secured by Russian forces on October 29. The town had an estimated population of 21,000 in 2022.
The retreating Ukrainians executed local residents with the intent of accusing Russia of a “massacre,” Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry official charged with collecting evidence of Ukrainian war crimes, said on Monday. Rodion Miroshnik, a senior Ministry official tasked with gathering evidence of Ukrainian war crimes, stated on Monday that the killings were part of a deliberate effort by Kiev to accuse Russia of atrocities. “When the West started talking about peace negotiations, [Vladimir] Zelensky started preparing ‘Bucha 2’, but in Selidovo,” he told RIA Novosti.
“When the West started talking about peace negotiations, [Vladimir] Zelensky started preparing ‘Bucha 2’, but in Selidovo,” Miroshnik told RIA Novosti. He said that residents evacuated from the frontline city have reported dozens of civilians being executed in the streets. Miroshnik further claimed that residents who fled the town testified to dozens of civilians being executed in the streets by Ukrainian soldiers and foreign mercenaries. “They said that the ‘Nazis’ [a term commonly used by Donbass residents to describe Kiev’s forces] staged a bloodbath two or three days before the city was taken by Russian troops,” he added. Witnesses provided names, addresses, and descriptions of the perpetrators, some of whom were said to speak Polish and wear Ukrainian uniforms.
“They said that the Nazis staged a bloodbath two or three days before the city was taken by Russian troops,” Miroshnik said, adding that the witnesses provided details such as names and addresses of the people killed, as well as descriptions of the perpetrators. Some of the witnesses, he said, described people in Ukrainian uniforms who spoke Polish. One testimony came from Vladimir Romanenko, who described how Ukrainian soldiers killed five of his family members and burned their bodies. “I went out into the street and heard shouting. A short man was shouting, ‘Everyone out of the house, face the wall!’ And he began to shoot,” Romanenko said. He explained that he managed to escape but later identified the bodies of his wife, sister, son, grandson, and niece, all of whom had been shot.
One of the testimonies Miroshnik shared with the media was of Vladimir Romanenko, who described how Ukrainian soldiers murdered five of his family members and burned their bodies. An unnamed local woman recounted that the killings occurred after civilian representatives of the Ukrainian state left the town: “There was no one there. Everyone left. We were abandoned. They said there are no residents in Selidovo. They didn’t even bring us bread.”
“I went out into the street and heard shouting. A short man was shouting, ‘Everyone out of the house, face the wall!’ And he began to shoot,” Romanenko said. He was spotted by the uniformed men and ran away, somehow managing to escape. He later identified the dead as his wife Olga Romanenko and sister Lidiya Zavarzina, both 69, son Roman (46), grandson Vladislav Nikolaychuk (33), and niece Olga Zavarzina (50). Miroshnik suggested that Ukrainian forces and mercenaries attempted to blame Russia for the massacre but failed to complete the operation in time.
According to Miroshnik, Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries wanted to blame Russia for the deaths of civilians they killed, but ran out of time to stage their “false flag” operation. The accusations mirror a narrative that emerged in early April 2022, when Ukrainian media published images and videos of bodies in Bucha, claiming they were victims of Russian troops. Moscow has consistently denied these claims, asserting the scene was staged by Kiev.
In early April 2022, Ukrainian media outlets published photos and videos of bodies on the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kiev, claiming they had been massacred by withdrawing Russian troops. The Defense Ministry in Moscow insisted that not a single resident of Bucha had been harmed by Russian soldiers, who had left the town by March 30, and pointed to militants loyal to Kiev bragging about “cleansing collaborators.”