Ukraine Preparing New Provocation in Odessa Region to Accuse Russia of 'War Crimes' - MoD

On 24 February, Russia started a special military operation in Ukraine with the goal of "demilitarising and de-Nazifying" the country. According to Russia’s Defence Ministry, in late March, Russian forces successfully implemented the main tasks of the operation’s first stage, significantly reducing Ukraine’s military potential.

The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said that Kiev is preparing a new provocation in the Odessa region in order to accuse Moscow of “war crimes”.

Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of the Russian MoD’s national defence control center, told reporters on Tuesday that “according to reliable, available information, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is preparing another monstrous provocation to accuse the military personnel of Russia of so-called war crimes involving the mass destruction of civilians in the Odessa region”.

He said that “to this end, in the near future, they plan to switch the uniforms of one of the SBU units for those of Russian military personnel uniforms and stage a demonstrative execution of local residents.”

Mizintsev added that photo and video 'evidence' of these false flag atrocities would then be published by Ukrainian and Western news agencies “for the immediate cynical promotion of fakes”.

The remarks come after Mizintsev said last week that Kiev is preparing new provocations, with the goal of accusing Russia of violence against Ukrainian civilians in the Sumy region. He said that the "staged provocations" in the north-eastern region of Ukraine are being prepared by the Kiev regime under the guidance of British special services.

“Yet another fake will be promoted by Western media in the near future. Its goal is to inflame Russophobia further amid the rapidly developing economic crisis in Europe,” he said, adding that the Russian troops left the region in question around three weeks ago, on 20 March.

This followed the Russian MoD rejection of Kiev’s statements that a Russian rocket hit Kramatorsk Railway station as a "provocation".

“Russian armed forces did not carry out any fire missions in the city of Kramatorsk on 8 April,” the ministry said, adding that the Tochka-U ballistic missiles, fragments of which were found scattered near the railway station in Kramatorsk, are used only by Ukrainian forces.

Moscow said that the purpose of Kiev’s attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk was to disrupt mass evacuation and to use the residents as a human shield.

Earlier this month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the Bucha provocation was aimed at slandering Russia, and that Moscow has insisted on an unbiased investigation into the matter.

"[...] We still insist that any accusations against the Russian side, against the Russian military are not just groundless; these are little more than a well-directed and tragic show," he said.

According to Peskov, "the whole course of events, as well as a huge amount of data, facts, and other parameters clearly indicate that this is a forgery in order to try to tarnish the Russian Army". The Kremlin spokesman warned that such attempts will never be successful.

Peskov also said that the Kremlin does not rule out the emergence of new fakes about the Russian military in Ukraine that may be similar to the Bucha provocation, which is why Moscow will continue to persistently separate fact from fiction.

"You've heard statements by [Russian] Defence Ministry spokespersons that another doctored filming is possible in order to falsify situations similar to what happened in Bucha. Therefore, this cannot be ruled out. But every time we will persistently talk about what truth is and what fiction is," Peskov noted.

Bucha Provocation

Also in April, video footage emerged reportedly showing the bodies of dead individuals scattered on the streets of Bucha. While Ukrainian authorities pointed the finger at Russia, Moscow rejected the accusations, stressing that Ukrainian forces shelled the city after Russian troops had already withdrawn from the area.

Last week, both the Bucha and Kramatorsk provocations were denounced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as "outrageous". He also did not rule out that more provocations would be staged by the Ukrainian military in the coming days.

The developments unfold amid the ongoing Russian special military operation to "demilitarise and de-Nazify" Ukraine announced by President Vladimir Putin on 24 February. The Russian Defence Ministry underlined that the operation only targets Ukraine’s military infrastructure and that the civilian population is not in danger.