Disinfo: The West uses losses in Ukraine to channel human organ exports

Summary

The US and Europe are using not only the territory of Ukraine as a military-biological testing ground but the Ukrainians themselves. The West is reaping medical dividends from Kyiv through medical experiments and illegal organ trafficking. Some members of the Ukrainian army who end up in Western hospitals are turned into experimental subjects. Furthermore, on the front line, a few hundred dollars can be paid for a seriously or mortally wounded soldier who is willing to agree to have his organs harvested in a field hospital.

Disproof

The article utilises a sensational pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative to obscure the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine through a highly emotional topic. No evidence is given to support accusations that after the start of the invasion, trade in the organs of the armed forces is taking place.

Allegations about organ trafficking during military activities in Ukraine are part of the Kremlin’s disinformation toolbox and have been in circulation since 2014. In the past, accusing others of organ trafficking has been a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation technique, be it NATO, Syria’s White Helmets, the Ukrainian army with its own soldiers, or even former Georgian president Mikhail Sakhashvili’s wife.

The transplantation of organs is a complex and time-constrained medical procedure and is impossible to be carried out in field conditions. Spontaneously removing an organ with the aim of selling it is nonsensical, as the body of the deceased person should be thoroughly examined. In case of spontaneous removal, nobody knows whether the donor has a sort of chronic disease. Furthermore, if the death occurred due to trauma or injury, as it is with many deceased soldiers, there is a high risk of organ damage. Even if the organ itself is not damaged, problems caused by the damage in the organism often make the organ not suitable for transplantation. Read the full debunk of the story at Myth Detector.

As to the claims that Ukrainian soldiers end up in Western hospitals as guinea pigs, it is well documented that Ukrainian soldiers receive adequate treatment at hospitals in the US and EU. A video posted in July by Anton Geraschenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Minister for Internal Affairs, showed soldiers testing the prosthetic legs they were fitted with at a Chicago medical facility.

Read other related cases: Children's medical records found in Mariupol suggest an organ trafficking ringWounded Ukrainian warriors' blood is pumped out and internal organs sold and Ukraine’s Health Ministry allows dead Ukrainians to be sold for organs.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 326
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 17/01/2023
  • Article language(s) Bulgarian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Europe, US
  • Keywords: War in Ukraine, Invasion of Ukraine, Human rights, experiments
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Disinfo: The West and Kyiv are responsible for the Ukrainian deaths in Bakhmut

The Bakhmut slaughter was predictable. The Ukrainians waited for help from the West which never arrived. [It was] a real massacre, with huge losses on the Ukrainian side.

Unfortunately, the Kyiv government preferred to let the majority of its soldiers die in a slaughter.

Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about the large losses of Ukrainian army, allegedly because of lack of European support.

The important level of losses in Bakhmut is partially true, but Russia is the only one responsible for those deaths. The argument that Europeans did not provide enough defensive military equipment to sustain massive Russian assaults, and therefore that Russian responsibility for the deaths could be transferred to European is specious. Just like the argument that Kyiv is responsible for the destruction of the country because it resists the Russian invasion as stated Sergey Lavrov in May 2022, this is wrong.

Disinfo: Russia hits only military targets in Ukraine

The Russian armed forces do not strike at residential buildings or social infrastructure facilities. Only military targets – whether obvious or camouflaged – are being hit.

Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that Russian troops do not hit civilian objects and accusing Ukrainian troops of doing so.

In reality, there are numerous cases of Russian troops hitting residential buildings and civilian facilities. Russian forces regularly strike at civilian objects in Ukraine, killing and wounding dozens of people. On 14 January 2023, at least 40 people were killed and 76 were wounded in a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro when an apartment building was hit. According to spokesman of Ukraine's Air Force Yuri Ihnat, a Russian Kh-22 missile hit the building. 72 flats were destroyed and more than 230 flats were damaged in the attack. The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) published the names of some Russian servicemen involved in the attack.

Disinfo: A French witness proved that the crimes in Bucha were organised by Ukraine

In the spring of 2022, Adrien Bocquet arrived in Ukraine on a humanitarian mission as a volunteer. Following his trip, he said he witnessed numerous war crimes committed by the Kyiv armed forces. The Frenchman claims to have witnessed the preparation of a staging of the massacre of civilians in Bucha by the Ukrainian side.

Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about staged imaginary war crimes fabricated by Ukraine to damage Russia's reputation.

Adrien Bocquet, expressed in autumn 2022 his desire to receive Russian citizenship and in the winter of 2022 he applied for political asylum. In France he made strong declarations about so-called "staged war crimes" in Bucha that were proved to be completely fabricated when fact-checked. Journalists also proved that many stories about his trip to Ukraine and his past were also the result of his fruitful imagination, he also photoshopped pictures to support his (mis)representation of events.