The information about the Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s Office detaining Mala Rohan resident [a village in the Kharkiv oblast — ed.] who’s suspected of poisoning fighters of the 113th Territorial Defence Brigade is spreading online. Our fact-checking department has figured out if it’s true; this is the English translation of their analysis. Read the Ukrainian version here.

What happened?

A Telegram channel called УКРОПСКИЙ ФРЕШ [“Ukropskyi fresh,” where “ukrop” is a derogatory term Russians use for Ukrainians — ed.] has spread the information (archive) that Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s office detained a Russian “guerrilla fighter”/” partisan” who feed poisonous food to 20 soldiers of 113th Territorial Defence Brigade. As a result, according to the Telegram post, 11 soldiers died of poisoning, and nine are now in the intensive care unit. 

“A local SBU department recognized the partisan quite quickly, after which the man was detained. According to him, he took this step [to poison soldiers — ed.] because of extreme hatred towards the Kyiv regime: in April 2022, because of the constant shelling by AFU, his relatives died, and in January 2024, the Territorial Recruit Center (TRC) forced his son to go on the frontline, and he later died near Kupiansk because of that. The partisan movement in Kharkiv is developing,” report propagandists in the post. 

Analysis 

We’ve checked the Kharkiv regional Prosecutor’s office page and found out that the photo used by [propagandists] was really posted by the SBU. However, this photo was published in a post from March 13, 2024. In it, prosecutors reported that they were issuing a suspicion notice of collaborationism to a 58-year-old Balakliia resident. 

According to the investigation, the man said that “Russia is here forever” in August 2022 [when Balakliia was occupied by Russians — ed.], encouraged [people] to support soldiers of the aggressor, and encouraged Balakliia residents to collaborate with Russian occupiers. 

We also decided to see if the Prosecutor’s Office published posts connected to poisoning and found out that the last post related to poisons and such, prosecutors posted on October 8, 2023. However, it’s connected to the poisoning of animals in Feldman Ecopark.

So, propagandists have used a real photo of a real suspect and fabricated a story to bolster the ‘Kharkiv is waiting for Russia’ narrative. 

Conclusion: Fake 

Author: Nazar Hlamazda 

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