The Russian media blackout over the attack, which left at least 18 people dead, according to the Ukrainian government, is part of a book on how similar attacks were handled as the Kremlin tries to present itself as a liberating force that does not harm civilians. And with images of charred bodies appearing in the foreign press, Russian officials began declaring the strike a “Bucharest-like challenge,” ignoring evidence of war crimes amid growing international isolation. Television, Russia’s most closely monitored media outlet, did not report the strike on Monday afternoon’s main newscast. Only when it was confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense, which claimed without evidence that ammunition was stored in the mall, most Russian media began to cover. The blackout has spread far beyond the state media. Private radio, online and print media also followed the Kremlin line, with tabloids such as the pro-Kremlin Komsomolskaya Pravda and the business daily Kommersant ignoring the strike. Even private news outlets such as Interfax did not report it until Tuesday, carefully presenting their tracks in response to Russian officials calling the attack a sham. The answer is part of Russia’s evolving wartime propaganda. On the first day of the war, Russian censors Roskomnadzor wrote that the media was “obliged to use information and data received only from official Russian sources.” Since then, local media outlets have either shut down or learned to pick up their signals from the Russian military before breaking the news. Channel One, Russia’s main television channel, began its evening news program on Monday with the story of a Russian soldier who received an award from the Kremlin. The show has seemed a bit unfocused in recent episodes, however; “This is the building they are talking about,” one reporter said sarcastically. “The western channels have presented everything as if our army had hit a political building. “But the rockets were actually Ukrainian and the building, according to available information, had been empty since April.” The pattern was repeated with the strike in Kremenchuk, with some Russian experts preparing the ground to call it fake, even before Moscow commented. “We have to wait for an official comment,” said Vladimir Soloviev, a popular Russian talk show host. “But this site has probably been used by them [Ukrainian] military for a long time. “There are very few women for some reason.” The previous Russian media outlets were left with two contradictory stories: that there was no evacuation because the mall had been closed for a long time and that Ukrainians had been killed because the mall had been used as an ammunition depot. “It does not even appear that the mall was open,” wrote War against Fakes, a Telegram channel run by Russian state media. A day later, the Russian army published a completely different story, confirming that a coup had taken place. But that did not change the verdict issued later in the war against the fakes. “We have examined in detail where the missiles hit and why the Ukrainian version is not accurate,” he said.
