Fact-check: Viral mannequin video does not prove Bucha killings were staged

A viral video of a mannequin has falsely claimed to show proof that the killing of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha were staged.

The misleading clip shows a prosthetic doll being dressed and prepared by two men in army-green khaki clothing.

Pro-Russian social media accounts initially shared the video on Telegram, but it soon spread online gaining thousands of views across Twitter and Facebook.

State television Russia 24 also aired the video on Thursday, falsely claiming that it proved that bodies seen on satellite images in Bucha were "staged".

A Euronews investigation has found that the footage was not filmed in Ukraine, but was actually from a Russian television set near St. Petersburg.

Russian citizens who worked on the TV set and can be seen in the video have also stated that the video has been taken out of context.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes following the discovery of human remains in Bucha, near Kyiv, as Moscow steps up efforts to control the narrative about the war in Ukraine.

In the misleading footage, two people can be seen preparing a prosthetic doll next to a black car, on the pavement outside a building.

The video first appeared on Telegram alongside the caption “this is how the AFU [Armed Forces of Ukraine] prepares their staged videos".

Russia 24 meanwhile falsely suggested that Ukrainian soldiers were wrapping tape around the mannequin to "pass it off as a corpse".

Pro-Kremlin users have shared the clip across the messaging platform, supporting Russia's claims that the bodies of victims in Bucha were staged after their forces had left the town.

But images shared with Euronews show that the video was actually filmed in Russia's Leningrad region and does not show Ukrainian army