MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Pyongyang views developments in the Ukrainian town of Bucha as a false flag operation staged by the West in order to tarnish Moscow’s image and isolate Russia, the North Korean embassy in Moscow said in a statement obtained by TASS.

"Mass killings in the town of Bucha clearly show that the United States and the West aren’t very particular about the sneaky methods they use to achieve their dirty goal, that is, to tarnish Russia’s image and isolate [Russia] internationally," the statement reads.

On April 3, the Russian Defense Ministry rejected the Kiev regime’s accusations of civilian killings in Bucha, Kiev Region. The ministry noted that the Russian Armed Forces had left Bucha on March 30, while "the evidence of crimes" emerged only four days later, after Ukrainian Security Service officers had entered the town. The ministry stressed that on March 31, the town’s Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk had confirmed in a video address that there were no Russian troops in Bucha. However, he did not say a word about civilians shot dead on the street.