Debunking Russian fakes. No, teenagers in Kharkiv didn’t protest against recruitment centers, police 

Pro-Russian Telegram channels shared the news that, in Kharkiv, around a hundred teenagers protested against recruitment officers and police. Our fact-checking department debunked this fake.  

What happened? 

On Feb 2, Telegram channel “Шейх Тамир” (“Sheikh Temyr,” archive), which regularly spreads Russian propaganda, Telegram channel verumreactor (archive), groups in Russian social media VKontakte, “Горловка Z” (“Horlovka Z,” archive) and “SVO” (archive), and “Донбасс непобедимый” (“Undefeatable Donbas,” archive) on Odnoklassniki published the news about teenagers in Kharkiv that supposedly gathered near a shopping mall “Nikolsky” to protest against recruitment officers and police. 

“Nearly 100 people participated, (all of them) teenagers aged 11-17. According to rumors, rioters took the weapons from someone from recruitment offices or the police. The fun in Ukraine only just started, the people reached the point of no return,” the post says. 

Also, the news was shared on Facebook, in particular in the group “Главные новости Днепра” (“The main news of Dnipro”) and on X and pro-Russian web resources, in particular in Polish (1, 2, 3).

Analysis 

To establish the circumstances around the “protest” that supposedly happened on Sunday, Feb 2, in Kharkiv, we looked through the information from official sources. 

On the evening of the same day, the official website of the police department in Kharkiv Oblast and its Telegram channel reported that law enforcement was investigating the conflict in a shopping mall in Kharkiv. 

“On February 2, around 18:36, a report about a mass fighting in one of the largest shopping malls in the city center reached Kharkiv district police department #1. Patrol police and security firm workers arrived at the location,” the police reported. 

The law enforcement established that the conflict occurred between the teenagers themselves, then escalated into fighting, which is why the police were called. The police say that during the fight, the participants also obstructed the work of the security firm. 

We also didn’t find any representatives of recruitment centers on the video clips shared on Telegram. This video shows patrol police officers and security firm workers arriving at the location, the press service police reported. 

As such, the news spread by pro-Russian channels is fake. The fighting was between teenagers, and police and a security firm arrived to put a stop to it. 

Conclusion: Fake

Author: Olha Yakovleva

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