Disinfo: The Ukrainian army kills its own people in Donbas

Summary

They [Ukrainian army] methodically shoot people on the front line. For two months I have been traveling along the front line, in villages, including in absolutely Ukrainian villages, and everywhere people say that they [Ukrainian soldiers] are shooting at us, they are killing us. Since I am here, several people were shot.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Ukrainian army kills civilians in Donbas and to portray events in Donbas as a civil war.

In 2020, according to the Human Rights Ombudsman of Ukraine, 23 civilians died, most of them before the cease-fire agreement entered into force on July 27. Overall, 3,300 civilians died due to the conflict over the last seven years, the UN reports. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission reported in its daily report on 6 April 2021 a boy died in non-government-controlled Oleksandrivske due to blast trauma and multiple shrapnel wounds. Also, it recorded one civilian casualty in a government-controlled area (500 m from the contact line). A man was wounded in a leg.

Ukraine and OSCE detect more cases of ceasefire violation. This led to increased casualties in the Ukrainian army.

The war in Eastern Ukraine is not a civil conflict, but an act of aggression by the Russian armed forces, that has been ongoing since February 2014. The European Union stated in July 2014 that "arms and fighters continue flowing into Ukraine from the Russian Federation". At the NATO Summit in Wales in September 2014, NATO leaders condemned in the strongest terms Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and demanded that Russia stop and withdraw its forces from Ukraine and from the country’s border.

See similar disinformation cases in our database: Ukrainian army killing the people in Donbas, a provocation by the Ukrainian armed forces was prevented in Donbas, the US prepares Ukrainian army for genocide in Donbas.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 240
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 06/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine
  • Keywords: War in Ukraine, Eastern Ukraine, Donbas
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Disinfo: Black people in America are the target of an emerging police state

Black people in America are the target of an emerging police state that monitors people based on the colour of their skin and arrests black people whenever the opportunity arises. There are over 2.3 million people in US prisons, and most of them are coloured people. On the other hand, millions of White American Trump supporters believe that they are victims of a left-wing coup d’état, and this has led to revolts after Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential elections. This enormous split in American society could lead to a new wave of non-structural and structural violence across the USA.

Disproof

The messages in this article fit into two recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives, one seeking to discredit liberal democracy and Western institutions by alleging that Western societies are becoming authoritarian police states, and the other claiming that massive and violent domestic conflict and civil war in socially divided America is imminent.

It is not true that America has or is about to become a police state that monitors people and arrests them based on the colour of their skin. In the US Constitution, the civil and legal rights of black and minority citizens are guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments, which the Civil Rights Act of 1964 enforces.

Disinfo: Russia poses zero threat to other countries, including Ukraine

Reports of Russian military buildup near the Ukrainian border are no cause for alarm, given that Russia does not pose any threat to Ukraine or any other country.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative falsely casting Russia as a benign, non-aggressive state.

Russia's army manoeuvres are indeed a cause for concern, particularly given the recent flare-up of armed hostilities between Ukraine and the Russia-backed militants in the occupied Donbas. See here for detailed debunking by POLYGRAPH.info.

Disinfo: US needs a war in Ukraine to stop Nord Stream 2 pipeline

The American-Polish plan of torpedoing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline failed. [...]

In maximum 6 months the Nord Stream 2 will be completed. The US is categorically opposed to it, thus it needs war, which would lead not only to the funeral of the Nord Stream 2 but also lead to dependence of Europe on expensive American liquified natural gas. [In that case] Poland will fullfil the role of the hub distributing the American gas to other European countries.

This is the price and purpose of what we are observing today. And in this situation we mustn't be shy, we must show our fist!

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and war in Ukraine.

The United States sees the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a Russian geopolitical project intended to divide Europe and weaken European energy security. However there is no basis to the claims that it seeks to ignite war in Ukraine to stop it.