In eastern Ukraine, Russia’s main propaganda efforts focuses on claims the Ukrainian army deliberately targets civilians. That the Ukrainian army is a bunch of bloodthirsty Nazi’s. But in reality, it’s Russia whose unashamedly emulating Goebbels, Hitler’s chief Nazi propagandist.

Soldiers for citizens.
In Russian occupied eastern Ukraine, the only independent reporting body is the OSCE. Under difficult circumstances, they do their best to verify civilian casualties, and follow up reports of any new ones. However, their work is routinely obstructed by hospital medical staff refusing to pass on information about supposed injured patients or ‘Russia-led’ forces stopping the OSCE from visiting sites of alleged shelling. The upshot of this is – the numbers of wounded civilian casualties reported by the Russia-led Donetsk & Luhansk republics, are far higher than those verified by the OSCE.

It should be noted, many civilian casualties in ‘occupied Ukraine’ occur due to the triggering of Russia’s forces mines, or the handling of ammunition & unexploded ordnance which then exploded. These casualties are then often falsely claimed to be the result of Ukrainian firing. But yes, sadly civilians on both sides of the line are killed and wounded due to Russia’s senseless war, which has now lasted longer than World War Two.

Which brings me onto this classic casualty scam, perpetrated by Russian state media.
In February 2021, Russian propaganda claimed a civilian Oleksandr Sleptsov had been hit by a Ukrainian sniper bullet and sustained an abdominal injury. This in the village of Oleksandrivske, on the edge of Donetsk city. The only problem was, Oleksandr is a soldier, one who like many others posted pictures of himself in uniform, while serving in so-called Donetsk people’s republic. The claim Ukrainian snipers attempt to kill civilians is a staple disinformation diet circulated by Russia’s propaganda machine.

Bringing us up-to-date.
With the recent upsurge of mortar and artillery shelling by Russia’s forces, the Kremlin’s state media was keen to reuse Oleksandr. Posing as a civilian for a fake news October propaganda piece, he claimed his home had been shelled and he’d sustained injuries to his chest and fingers. The true nature of his injuries will likely be due to either fighting on the frontline or mishandling of explosive ammunition.

Link to Ukrainian Military website for more info on this story. They highlight how images showing Oleksandr in military uniform were deleted from his social media account. But all to no avail, as the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets has plenty of imagery and info indicating he’s a soldier.

Watch the below Ukrainian military video detailing the Russian state media scam.