From the beginning of 2022, a disinformation campaign with the narrative that Ukraine is terrorizing the population of TOT of Donetsk and Luhansk regions began to be followed in the information space. The enemy tried to create a sustainable impression among the residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, residents of the russian federation, as well as the population of Ukraine, that the highest political and military leadership in Kyiv is capable of taking any steps to return the occupied territories, including artillery shelling of civilian infrastructure.
Propagandists of the russian federation actively dispelled fakes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine “killed thousands of civilians”, “uninterruptedly shelling of the temporarily occupied territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine”, “use means and methods of warfare prohibited by international treaties.”
Cases within the campaign
1. The Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled a kindergarten in TOT of Donetsk and Luhansk regions
On the morning of February 17, 2022, Russian occupation forces shelled the settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska, located in the Luhansk region. As a result of the terrorists’ use of heavy artillery, shells hit the building of the kindergarten.
In this regard, russia and the self-proclaimed ORDO government initiated a series of information attacks to discredit the Armed Forces of
Ukraine and the Ukrainian government. Thus, fake reports began to spread through enemy channels that allegedly the shelled building was located on the territory controlled by the occupying forces.
However, after confirming the location of the kindergarten on the territory controlled by Ukraine, the message was changed to accuse the Armed Forces of deliberate shelling their own territories and even staging the shelling as such. Such a sharp transition from one message to another indicated to the falsity of these messages.
2. Arrangement of mass burials of civilians in TOT of Donetsk and Luhansk regions
During the week (February 12, 2022 – February 18, 2022), manipulative materials began to spread about the alleged discovery of places of spontaneous burials of civilians, created by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to “hide the facts of the use of prohibited means of warfare by the Ukrainian side.”
Thus, the publications noted that the main department of the Investigative Committee of the russian federation initiated a criminal case on the fact of brutal treatment of the civilian population, the use of means and methods prohibited by international treaties in the armed conflict. In particular, as stated in the publications, “in August-October 2021, five mass graves were found in Donbas, from which the remains of at least 295 people who died during “chaotic shelling” by Ukrainian security forces in 2014 were exhumed.” It goes on to say that “since April 2014, thousands of residents, including Russian speakers who are not participating in the military conflict, have been injured and killed in Donbas.”
Regarding this fake, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki spoke at that time, calling the message a fake. However, these refutations did not gain proper distribution in the information space of TOT and the russian federation.
3. Preparation of the offensive operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in TOT of Donetsk and Luhansk regions
The special attention of the week (12.02 – 18.02.2022) among the disinformation resources concerned precisely the attack on the image of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Systematic and various “throw-ins” of fakes and information manipulation were observed in groups in social networks belonging to representatives of the temporary occupation administration of the russian federation in the TOT of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and explicitly in the mass media, which are directly and openly financed from the state budget of russia.
Examples of numerous fakes:
a subversive group of the Armed Forces tried to penetrate critical infrastructure facilities;
Ukraine is forming multinational units of jihadist fighters;
The Armed Forces of Ukraine use prohibited weapons;
The Armed Forces of Ukraine involved tanks for shelling;
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are planning terrorist attacks using UAVs;
The Armed Forces are preparing the “Point U” kit for shelling.
This disinformation campaign was aimed at further justifying the full-scale invasion of the russian federation into the territory of Ukraine and did not have any factual confirmation. President of the russian federation putin declared that “there was not a single terrorist attack in Kremenchuk… The russian army does not hit any civilian targets during a special operation, and nobody shoots in fields just like that.”
