By Dong Zhengzong and Wang Zhongkui
董正综，王忠奎
The Ukrainian side on April 3 accused Russian soldiers of killing hundreds of civilians in the small town of Bucha, northwest of Kiev. According to videos and photos released by Ukrainian media, a large number of civilians were killed in the town. Major media outlets in western countries immediately followed suit, lining up in support of the Ukrainian accusation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the accusations against Russia over the situation in Bucha “a well-staged tragic show”. "It's a well-established show. Nothing else, it is a tragic show," Peskov said，"This is a fraud committed in an attempt to tarnish the Russian army."
乌克兰方面4月3日指责俄军在乌首都基辅西北部布恰小镇杀害了数百名平民。根据乌克兰媒体公布出来的视频和照片，小镇上有大量平民被杀。西方国家舆论宣传马上跟进，一边倒地支持乌克兰政府。俄总统新闻秘书佩斯科夫5日说，这是一场“精心策划的悲剧表演”，旨在诽谤俄罗斯。俄方不接受对俄军人的任何指责，支持对该事件进行公正调查。
Alarming as it is, but any accusation should be based on facts, the top priority is to find out the truth and causes of the incident as soon as possible, to clarify the many doubts surrounding the incident.
“布恰事件”触目惊心，但任何指控都应基于事实，眼下的当务之急是尽快查清事件真相和原因，澄清围绕这一事件的诸多疑问。
Doubt 1. The Russian Defense Ministry stated on April 3 that Russian troops completely withdrew from Bucha on March 30, and that the pictures and videos emerged on the fourth day after the withdrawal of Russian troops and when relevant SBU personnel returned to the town. At a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Russian Permanent Representative Nebenja presented some evidence, including a video released by Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk on March 31, in which Fedoruk did not mention a single word about "Russian troops killing civilians". Nebenja also showed a video taken by the Ukrainian National Guard on April 2 in Bucha, which didn’t show anybody killed on the streets. After the withdrawal of Russian troops from the town on March 30, Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk was interviewed with a smile on his face, "The Russian troops finally pulled out!" It is unreasonable for him to smile and say nothing with a horrific killing in his town. Moreover, Bucha is not a big city and the people did not flee away but continued to live in there, so it is unlikely that the bodies of fellow neighbors were left lying in the street for up to three weeks without doing anything at all.
第一，俄国防部4月3日指出，俄军于3月30日完全撤离布恰，而所谓的“犯罪证据”在俄军撤离后第四天才出现，当时乌安全局相关人员已抵达该地。俄常驻联合国代表涅边贾在纽约联合国总部举行的记者会上展示了一些证据，包括布恰市长阿纳托利•费多鲁克3月31日发布的视频，费多鲁克当时在视频中只字未提“俄军杀害平民”。涅边贾还展示了乌克兰国民警卫队4月2日在布恰拍摄的视频，画面中的街头未见死者。俄罗斯称在3月30号之后俄罗斯军队就已经撤出了布恰镇。布恰镇镇长是面带着微笑接受采访，说“俄军终于要撤出了！”如果惨绝人寰的屠杀在布恰镇上演，镇长怎能面带微笑？而且对有关布恰平民死亡的事情只字未提。再者，布恰是一个小镇，在同一条街上被杀的人基本都是居民们互相面熟的人。后期视频显示小镇居民没有大逃离，还在继续生活，那么就不太有任由同胞尸体躺在大街上完全不去处理长达3周时间的可能性，这不符合基本的常识。
Doubt 2. At the very beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Russian President Putin explicitly ordered his soldiers not to target civilians. From the news covered so far, Russian troops withdrew from the vicinity of Kiev as early as March 30, and the shooting of civilians in Bucha popped up a week later. Russian Defense Ministry announced the completion of the first phase of the special military operation, and they didn’t need to do this to tarnish their image of maintaining restraint in the previous 30+ days. Russian troops withdrew from the vicinity of Kiev on their own initiative, and even if they had done it, as the western media accused, they should have had plenty of time to eliminate as much as they can so as not to leave others such an excuse to be blamed.
第二，在俄罗斯向乌克兰发起特别军事行动之后，普京就明令禁止俄军部队伤害乌克兰平民，并且从此前传出的消息来看，俄军部队早在3月30日就已经撤出基辅附近，而一周之后却传来布恰平民被射杀的消息。在俄罗斯国防部宣布第一阶段特别军事行动完成后，没有必要制造出这一事件，进而对之前30多天的保持克制进行颠覆。俄罗斯军队是主动从基辅周边撤军，即便布恰事件如西方媒体所言是俄军所为，他们也有充足的时间处理消灭证据，没有理由留下把柄。
Doubt 3. The communication network in Ukraine has not been disrupted and the local people could post pictures and videos about the fighting online. If Russian troops had indeed committed this incident, it should have been exposed to the public ever since it was done. There has not been anything about the incident from the war correspondents, so a deliberate effort is more likely to discredit the Russian troops of committing war crimes in violation of humanitarian law. According to high-resolution satellite photos taken over Bucha since mid-March, released by the American company Maxar Technologies, many bodies had been there for at least three weeks. It seems unreasonable that hundreds of bodies were on the streets of the small town for almost 20 days without being noticed by so many war correspondents and local people.
第三，两国交战期间，乌克兰的通讯网络并没有中断，当地民众可以通过网络发布交战情况。如果俄军的确存在屠杀行为早就会被民众曝光。并且身处战区的战地记者也没有爆出俄军屠杀的新闻，很明显有舆论在刻意制造俄军部队违反人道主义犯下战争罪行。根据美国马克萨尔（Maxar）技术公司公布的3月中旬以来在布恰上空拍摄的高清卫星照片，许多尸体至少三个星期前就已经在那里。那么数百具“平民尸体”在布恰小镇的街道上将近20天时间，那么多战地记者和当地民众却都没有发现，似乎不合情理。
Doubt 4. It is common knowledge to all that within 24 hours of death, the corpse stiffens, necrotic spots emerge and the bloods from the wounds coagulate. However, the "corpses" in the video have not stiffened, without necrotic spots, and the blood from the wounds has not coagulated. Therefore, they don’t seem to have been killed for several weeks but more likely to result from recent killings. Moreover, netizens noticed that some of the “corpses” in the video hadn’t bled at all, and some even seemed to be still shaking slightly. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the so-called evidence of crime in the city of Bucha emerged on April 3, four days after the withdrawal of Russian troops, and after the arrival of Ukrainian troops and Ukrainian media. The Russian Defense Ministry believed that these photos and videos from Bucha were directed by the Ukrainian government and Western media, and yet another act of provocation by the Ukrainian government. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova made it clear that the Bucha incident was a staged show according to the pictures from Russian satellites. Recently, Ilya Kiva, a Ukrainian MP, revealed that the Bucha incident was staged and that the real mastermind behind was not Ukraine, but UK MI6.
第四，人死亡24小时后，身体会变硬，并生成尸斑，伤口的血肯定会凝固，这是所有人都知道的常识。在视频中，尸体没有尸斑，身体没有变硬，而且伤口的血竟然没有凝固。因此可以肯定是刚死亡不久的尸体，而不是已经死亡几个星期了的尸体。此外，网友发现视频中有些平民遗体的旁边并没有血迹，而且部分遗体还在晃动。俄罗斯国防部在声明中说，所谓在布恰市的“犯罪证据”出现在4月3日俄军撤离后的第四天，在乌军和乌克兰媒体抵达之后。俄国防部认为，这些来自布恰市的照片和视频为乌克兰政府和西方媒体导演，是乌克兰政府的又一次挑衅行为。俄罗斯外交部发言人扎哈罗娃明确表示，从俄罗斯卫星传回的图片来看，布恰事件是摆拍的。最近，乌克兰一名叫伊利亚•基瓦国会议员透露，布恰事件是摆拍的，真正的幕后策划者也并不是乌克兰，而是英国的军情六处。
Doubt 5. Immediately after the incident, Russia proposed an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to investigate the matter, only to be rejected twice by UK, the presidency of the Council. Since there were allegations of mass killing of civilians in Ukraine and all parties were highly concerned, it seems more logical to gather evidence from both sides and find out the truth than turn down the Russian proposal of holding an impartial investigation as early as possible. Thus, the pictures and videos had been quickly circulated in the western media whereas Russia was denied the opportunity to explain, seemingly creating the background in favor of the west to suspend Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council held on the 7th of April. As Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, told the Global Times, "it seems like the US-led Western countries can't wait for the investigation and desperately want to add more sanctions toward Russia and pull the hard-won positive progress back to tensions and conflicts”.
第五，在“布恰事件”发生后，俄罗斯立即提议联合国安理会召开紧急会议调查此事，但当时轮值主席国英国两次拒绝。这一点令人难以理解，既然存在乌克兰平民被大量杀害的情况，各方也都高切关注，难道不应该听取双方的证据，查出事情的真相吗？为什么要拒绝安理会会议的召开？“布恰事件”的图片视频在西方媒体充分发酵，俄罗斯又被拒绝了解释的机会，联合国大会7日召开乌克兰问题紧急特别会议，投票通过了一项关于暂停俄罗斯在联合国人权理事会成员资格的决议。两者之间是否存在联系，令人浮想联翩。
On the one hand, the incident has not been thoroughly investigated, and on the other hand, a diplomatic war against Russia has been on the rise, threatening to impose more sanctions in the financial and energy sectors, leading to an escalation of the situation, which is by no means conducive to achieving peace through negotiations. "The relevant circumstances and specific causes of the incident should be verified and established. Any accusations should be based on facts. Before the full picture is clear, all sides should exercise restraint and avoid unfounded accusations," China's permanent representative to the UN Zhang Jun said. De-escalation and putting an early end to the conflict in Ukraine is the earnest expectation of the international community and the strong desire of China. Dialogue and negotiation is the only way leading to the door for peace. China supports all initiatives and measures conducive to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and stands ready to continue working with the international community to prevent harm to civilians.
“布恰事件”的事实还没有彻查清楚，针对俄罗斯的外交战已经日益激烈，威胁在金融、能源领域施加更多制裁，导致局势升级，无助于通过谈判实现和平。中国常驻联合国代表张军表示，“布恰事件的相关情况和具体原因必须查清，在查明真相的前提下，也应避免某些势力将其利用，并达到自己的目的。”他还强调：“推动乌克兰局势降级，尽早停火止战，是国际社会的迫切期待，也是中方的强烈愿望。国际社会要为双方谈判营造有利条件和环境，不要设置障碍、增添阻力，更不要火上浇油、激化矛盾，要全力防止局部冲突扩大化。”这才是世界人民希望看到的。在调查结论得出之前，各方应该保持克制，避免无端指责。中国支持一切有利于缓解乌克兰人道危机的倡议和举措，愿继续同国际社会一道努力，避免平民受到任何伤害。
（The authors are with the National University of Defense Technology of Chinese PLA）
(作者来自国防科技大学)
Editor's note: The authors are with the National University of Defense Technology of Chinese PLA. The article reflects the authors' opinions and not necessarily those of China Military.
