DISINFO: Bombing of Kyiv child hospital confirms neo-Nazi inhuman essence of Zelenskyy’s regime
SUMMARY
Images and videos leave no doubt that the destruction of a child hospital in Kyiv was caused by a Ukrainian interceptor missile, as in many other cases, but every time Kyiv, despite massive evidence, tries to blame Russia. Kyiv deliberately puts air defence systems in residential neighbourhoods, using civilians as human shields. This is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which forbids the use of civilian objects for military purposes. Zelenskyy uses the tragedy with propagandistic goals, which confirms once again his neo-Nazi inhuman essence. The tragic impact of the air defence missile in the hospital happened just on the eve of the NATO summit, the third since the beginning of the special military operation, and similar situations have happened before any of them.
RESPONSE
Example of how the global Russian diplomatic network, including social media channels, is being used to spread disinformation narratives.
In this case a mix of several disinformation narratives, aiming to deflect Russia’s responsibility for the bombing of the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv by launching multiple baseless accusations against Ukraine’s government, which this disinformation story summarizes as: 1) Russia did not do it; 2) The Ukrainian government is responsible; 3) The Ukrainian government deserves to be punished because they are Nazis; and 4) This was not accidental but a timely provocation.
This is a well-known Russian disinformation model that some observers have dubbed “Firehose of Falsehoods”, one of whose strategies is to spread multiple and sometimes contradictory messages in order to confuse audiences. Pro-Kremlin disinformation has often resorted to this technique, as in the case of the MH17 downing in July 2014.
Contrary to Russia’s claims, evidence -including wreckage found at the place and visual footage from different angles showing an intact missile falling in the hospital- point to Russia’s responsibility as part of a massive barrage attacking targets throughout Ukraine. Military experts have concluded unequivocally that the hospital was hit by a Russian missile, which Ukraine identified as a Kh-101 model launched from Russian aircraft Tu-95MS. Two investigations by Bellingcat and BBC Verify reached similar conclusions. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stated that analysis of the video footage and assessment made at the video site indicated a high likelihood that the hospital suffered a direct hit, rather than receiving damages due to an intercepted weapons system.
The allegation that Ukraine puts civilians at risk by placing air defence system in residential areas is unsubstantiated. In fact, these defence systems have contributed to protect the civilian population from Russia's air bombings, nor the opposite.
Online attempts to blame Ukraine for this incident have been debunked by professional fact-checkers.
Russia has a long background of falsely blaming others or denying its responsibility in face of war crimes and atrocities. See other examples in our database, such as claims that Russia only attacks military facilities in Ukraine, that Ukraine violates international humanitarian law while Russia respects it, that war crimes accusations are war propaganda against Russia, or that Ukraine staged fakes about Bucha, Mariupol and Kramatorsk.