The Trial: Sergey Lavrov and Tucker Carlson vs. Oxsana
On April 1, 2022, a founding member of Ukraine Story was part of the first response team to enter and document the atrocities at Bucha. In November of 2023, I travelled to Bucha with my film team to interview eyewitnesses to Russian atrocities for our documentary series on the perseverance of the people of Ukraine. I returned from that trip to an America still under siege from Russian disinformation. The following article asks the most simple question to be answered in our documentary work: Who are we to believe? The architects of mass murder and collaborator political pundits steeped in contempt and ignorance, or the vast cloud of witnesses?
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury …
The question before you is Bucha. What happened? Does it matter?
You have been presented with vast amounts of video, audio, photographic and related forensic evidence of atrocities committed by Russians against civilians — arguably, one of the most documented warcrimes of the 21st century.
The Defense presented two witnesses.
The first was Mr. Sergey Lavrov, de facto minister of propaganda in the employ of Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation.
Mr. Lavrov is one of the architects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a spokesman for their cause. He is a frequent and respected guest at the United Nations, has spoken extensively on the subject of Bucha, and is considered by the Defense to be a “subject matter expert.” You have heard his testimony. He alleges the massacre at Bucha is a complete fake - a staged event. He has assured you that Russian soldiers are gentlemen. They do not target nor harm civilians. He strongly argues that mere assertion of a fact by a Russian leader makes it true.
The second witness for the Defense is Mr. Tucker Carlson, an important American media personality with an audience in the tens of millions. When confronted on the stand with questions of Russian mass atrocities in Ukraine, he declined to address the issue directly, instead focusing on the clothing of Ukraine’s Jewish President Zelensky and his “rat face.”
As counsel for the prosecution, I presented Oxsana.
Oxsana is not famous. She does not have a podcast. She is not a multi-millionaire like Mr. Lavrov and Mr. Carlson. She has never been invited to the United Nations or to host a Fox News show.
Her principle credential is that she was a resident of Bucha who lived on Yablunska Street between February 26 and March 31, 2022, an eyewitness to Russian massacres and atrocities, with friends who were tortured, raped, and murdered by Russian soldiers.
Here is an excerpt of her recorded testimony given to me from her home in Bucha.
Me: What happened here at your home?
Oxsana: “Right here on Yablunska street close to where I live they were simply dragging people out of their homes and shooting them.”
“When we were leaving on March 9 people were lying shot down on the street and right in front of our house. My sister lives over there, she also witnessed how Russians were dragging out people of their homes. There was an ATO veteran, young man, they broke his jaw. He stayed alive…
“My cousin lives here on Vodoprovidna street. She and her husband were in the cellar, they took him, ordered her to stay downstairs. She had been waiting for a while but they shot him outside right near the house. A lot of people in the neighborhood were killed in the way: They were dragged out and shot. A lot. They didn’t let anyone out. I don’t know how we survived.”
Me: What About the Green Corridor the Russians promised?
Oxsana: “There were 3 cars that wanted to leave but the Russians set up a checkpoint there. They stopped my sister’s car with bulletproof windows that she rolled down, she switched to Russian asking them [Russians] to let them go. They pointed them in different directions. In the opposite one was the entire column of cars waiting for evacuation.”
“On March 9 it was supposed to be the first column in the queue to evacuate from Bucha. They took one of the drivers out of the car ordering: “Up, down, stand up, lie down. They didn’t shoot us.”
“But in that opposite direction all cars were shot. There were children too. All shot.”
Me: Were any of the women raped here?
Oxsana: “In our home they didn’t do it, but around here (she points) many were raped and killed including girls and boys. My friend's child in the neighborhood on Yablunska Street was raped and killed too. And here on the turn, they killed a woman riding a bike. They were targeted those who wore dark clothing. They targeted less who were dressed in light colored clothing. Russians were shooting everyone in dark clothes. Everyone…”
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard from Oxsana. But there are hundreds of Oxsanas from Bucha. There are tens of thousands of Oxsanas throughout Ukraine - men and women who somehow survived a moment of Russian occupation when Hell was in session.
The defense wants you to believe Lavrov and Carlson. They want you to ignore the complicity of both men in the suffering of millions of Ukrainians. They want you hate the people these men hate and laugh at the people these men laugh at. They want you to take their words at face value without asking questions.
It comes down to you.
Will you overlook vast oceans of evidence and the testimony of eyewitnesses like Oxsana?
Or will you accept the ravings of the Joseph Goebbels and Tokyo Rose of the 21st Century?
