The Italian journalist Giorgio Bianchi was invited to participate in a meeting organized at the United Nations Security Council on 6 May 2022. The theme of the meeting was human rights violations in the Ukrainian Donbass area. Here is a transcript of the speech [with links added].
Good evening, it is truly an honour for me to be here.
I recently returned from Donbass, where I documented the conflict for about two months.
I must say that I expected to find a difference between the reality on the ground and in the media, but not at this level.
I can understand Russian propaganda; I can understand Ukrainian propaganda. What remains incomprehensible to me is European propaganda.
With the Russian media censored, and with all the other supposed official media aligned on Ukrainian propaganda, for the European public – I am European – it is practically impossible to form an objective opinion on the reality on the ground. This is why more and more people are turning to the web to receive balanced information.
Governments and digital platforms, instead of questioning themselves about this phenomenon, are trying to limit access to information online. It seems that their goal is to support a single narrative of the facts.
War is traumatic in itself, and I know something about it. There is no need to make it even more horrible by flooding the ether and paper with fake news. I think it is not useful to feed the conflict or widen it, feeding hatred.
It seems to me that there is some kind of interest in making the conflict last for a long time and spread.
I personally exposed several fake news items spread in the European media: the shameful front page of La Stampa which deceptively attributed the massacre in Donetsk on March 14 to the Russians; the fact that Marianna, the girl who symbolized the bombing of the Mariupol hospital, had not been kidnapped by the Russians; the fact that the Russians are not deporting civilians from Mariupol (they could not evacuate all the civilians who wanted to leave; they certainly did not take away those who wanted to stay).
On the contrary, I have shown that Ukrainian soldiers and militias have extensively used civilians as human shields. The testimonies I have collected are dozens and the vast majority confirm it. There is no trace of this fact checking work in the mainstream press.
What game are we playing? Do we want World War III? Do we want to reduce the European populations to misery by dint of sanctions?
I am an independent reporter. My work has been recognized internationally. But I cannot work in Ukraine because I am on a blacklist, Myrotvorets, in which I am defined as a “criminal” – just for doing my job and for sharing my point of view with the public, a point of view documented by eight years of work in the field.
Today I am accused of being an embedded professional. But I can’t work on the other side because I risk being arrested.
Do you think this is normal?
Another time: what game are we playing at?
For sure, it is a very dangerous game.
Tim Hayward 
Ukraine is a very troubled country with a very troubled history. I find it interesting that Poland is accepting countless Ukrainian refugees when as recently as WWII, Ukraine committed Genocide against Polish people. See : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Galicia
Prior to WWII, … The USSR under Stalin annexed Ukraine and basically starved the Ukrainian people into submission. Along comes WWII and many Ukrainians welcomed the NAZIS as liberators from the USSR, however Hitler’s hatred of Slavic Peoples caused Ukraine even more suffering. Finally upon the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, … Ukraine gained INDEPENDANCE. The WEST led by the USA wooed Ukraine towards the west and away from Russian influence to the point where Russia feared Ukraine would join NATO and Russia would end up with US Ballistic Missiles on her border ( untenable ) in Russian eyes. Then in 2014 if memory serves me right the very easterly areas now called the Donbas region held a referendum and decided by 94% to join Russia ( mostly Russian speaking peoples in this area ) but the referendum was by Ukrainian Law illegal. This resulted in years of constant shelling by Ukraine of the break away Donbas. Did Russia allow the Donbas region to physically join Russia … NO !
As I see it, the USA set a trap for Vladimir Putin and he fell into it by invading a Sovereign Nation ( Ukraine ) and ended up being condemned by virtually every country. I also condemn Russia for this invasion. By the way when Putin talks about Nazis in Eastern Ukraine he is absolutely CORRECT. The AZOV Battalion fighting in Mariupol is, although UKRAINE denies it,
NEO-NAZI … See : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGdUtUefjCA&t=25s
Now then, everyone ( the WEST ) wants to distance themselves from this reality by saying the AZOV Battalion aren’t really Neo-Nazi. Even Mark Felton PHD and British Historian skirts the issue by saying … draw your own conclusions.
I do not know how this war will end. Both the EAST and the WEST are playing Russian Roulette ( pardon the pun ) with ALL OUR LIVES ! Mainstream Media in the WEST are taking Ukrainian and USA Propaganda as though it is the absolute truth, even though any intelligent individual realizes it is full of lies and deception. Russian Propaganda is STATE controlled under an Authoritarian Regime and it is full of lies and deception. It would seem that Ukraine is being used by both the West and the East as a Pawn in a life and death bloody Chess Game. Remember that TRUTH is the first victim of any war ! Ukraine sadly in the meantime is being utterly destroyed. The only beneficiaries to this or any war is the Military Industrial Complex Corporations of BOTH the WEST and RUSSIA.
I have no doubt some Ukrainian troops in their desperation to survive the onslaught brought by Russian shelling have mingled with the civilians, but this claim they are all neo nazis while Russians are not does not stand up to scrutiny. If you googled neo nazis and borgen project dot org you would see that more than half of all neo Nazi thugs in the would agree actually Russian. The behaviour of Russian (and Chechen) troops in Bucha and elsewhere indicates they are behaving as bad as the worst as nazis did.
Has the journalist described in this article tried to uncover the truth about why Putin wants Donbas. Try researching about the Yuzivska gas field found in 2010. It would have given Ukraine $900B of income and enough gas to stop Germany from being dependent on Putin. Read about it and ask yourself if Putin was primarily concerned about the Russian heritage or how Soviet style KGB power games!?
Mr. Ingebrigtsen,
I can accept ENGLISH is not your language of choice. I don’t think you actually correctly read what I wrote, and I cannot believe you watched the Documentary on Youtube presented by none other than Tim Hayward PHD. Mr. Hayward is a well respected Historian and Author.
I do not agree with your assessment that Russia invaded Ukraine in order to gain control over the Yuzivska Oil Fields. The reason Russia invaded Ukraine was because the WEST led primarily by the USA was wooing Ukraine into joining NATO which given the US”s penchant for controlling the World, would PROBABLY have meant putting Nuclear Missiles on Ukrainian soil right on RUSSIA’s doorstep. This is akin to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 when the Soviet Union ( Russia ) were found to be installing NUCLEAR missiles in CUBA ( on the USA’s doorstep !
There is your MAIN REASON Sir. Another reason is the FACT that the Donbas region ( primarily Russian speaking peoples ) had been under constant shelling by UKRAINE for 8 years non-stop due to their 94 % vote to separate from the rest of Ukraine. These Ukrainian people were begging Russia to intervene.
The USA does not give a tinker’s damn about the Ukrainian people, .. they only care about Ukraine’s strategic importance to dominating Europe. If anyone is to blame for the suffering of Ukraine and her people, … it is probably 75 % the WEST and 25 % Russian.
… Ron Watson