MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Ukrainian and Western media reports about "mass graves of shot civilians" in the Kiev Region are staged fakes, Russian Permanent Representative to OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said Tuesday during the special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, according to Russian Foreign Ministry website.

"We see the same signs of staged promotion of fakes regarding ‘Russian war crimes’ in Western and Ukrainian media reports on the situation in other settlements of the Kiev Region, which Russian forces withdrew from. For example, the reports of ‘mass graves of shot civilians’ in the towns of Irpen, Borodyanka, settlement of Motyzhin and Moschun have been prepared by the same guidelines," the diplomat said.

The situation in Bucha

On April 3, Russian Ministry of Defense debunked Kiev’s accusations of murder of civilians in the town of Bucha, Kiev Region. The ministry stated that Russian forces have completely left Bucha on March 30 already, while "evidence of crimes" only appeared four days later, when Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) officers arrived in Bucha. The Ministry of Defense also underscored that, on March 31, Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk confirmed that there were no Russian forces in the town, without mentioning any shot civilians. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the situation in Bucha a "fake news attack."

On Monday, Russian Permanent Representative to UN Vasiliy Nebenzya held an emergency press conference after the UK, which currently presides in the UN Security Council, rejected Russian requests for a meeting on Bucha twice in one day. During the press conference, Russian diplomats presented video footage made in Bucha immediately after the withdrawal of the Russian forces: there were no bodies on the streets.