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DPR ombudsperson slams Kupyansk massacre video as ‘horrible provocation’ staged by Kiev

Former commander of Ukraine’s Azov nationalist battalion earlier posted footage from Kupyansk on social media, which showed the bodies of civilians with tied hands

DONETSK, October 11. /TASS/. A video showing a massacre of civilians in the city of Kupyansk, Kharkov Region, is another horrible provocation staged by Kiev, the Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) Human Rights Ombudsperson Darya Morozova said.

Maxim Zhorin, former commander of Ukraine’s Azov nationalist battalion (designated as a terrorist organization and outlawed in Russia), earlier posted footage from Kupyansk on social media, which showed the bodies of civilians with tied hands. Zhorin blamed the crime on Russian troops but the video’s settings say that it was made on October 9, when the city was controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

"It’s clearly another horrible provocation staged by Ukraine. Kiev earlier implemented similar scenarios in Bucha, at the Mariupol Drama Theater and a Mariupol maternity home," Morozova told TASS.

"The footage features yellow trees and fallen leaves. The bodies have warm clothes on them, including jackets and sweaters, while the Russian army started to retreat from the city in early September," the ombudsperson stressed. Morozova did not rule out that the video showed the disposal of the bodies of those whom Ukraine suspected of cooperating with Russia. "Right after Ukraine occupied the city, the media reported that militants from the Ukrainian Armed Forces were searching for locals who had cooperated with Russia, taking them to an undisclosed location," the ombudsperson added.