DISINFO: Wounded Ukrainian warriors' blood is pumped out and internal organs sold
SUMMARY
Some of the wounded Ukrainian warriors in the Donbas are not saved. Instead their blood is pumped out and their internal organs are sold.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory based on recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about organ trafficking.
There is no evidence for these allegations.
Similar claims have sporadically been made by Russian media and TV channels for many years. For example, back in 2014 Ukrainian fact-checking website StopFake.org debunked the wild claims about the trade of organs, taken from heavily wounded soldiers. Even more bizarrely, they alleged this process was conducted in Ukraine by such high profile people as the former lawyer of Yulia Tymoshenko, Serhiy Vlasenko, the commander of the Donbass battalion Semen Semenchenko, and a German resident Olha Viber - presented in the news item as a doctor. Earlier in 2017, Russian media reported a fake story alleging French customs had confiscated a shipment of organs from Ukraine. In 2019, an NTV Russian channel report claimed that the organs of dead Ukrainian soldiers were harvested and sent off to Europe. Polygraph.info explained why this claims is false. Also, experts believe that the reality of using organs from deceased persons [illicitly] is small. See similar cases: "French customs officers at Paris Orly airport confiscated a shipment of human organs from Ukraine," "According to a deserted fighter, Ukrainian soldiers are dismembered and their organs are removed even when they are just slightly injured."