Russian propagandists fabricate publication by Ukrainska Pravda

A fake news report linked the death of 128th Brigade soldiers with arms supplies to Hamas

Kremlin pool media outlets, Russian z-bloggers and bots on the social network X are spreading a screenshot of a publication supposedly posted on the website of the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet. The "news” piece allegedly published by journalist Kateryna Tyshchenko on November 5, 2023 at 17:38, says that the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade Zakarpattia, whose soldiers were  tragically killed in Zaporizhzhia region, was suspected of selling weapons to the Hamas terrorist organization.

This is a fake. There is no such "news” report on the official website of the Ukrainian news outlet. In fact, at 17:38 on November 5, 2023, Ukrainska Pravda published a report about another Russian missile strike on Ukrainian infrastructure in Odesa region, which injured three civilians.

Using the Internet Archive website, one can check that the content of the news report has not changed since its publication. That is, the fake screenshot was created solely with the help of graphic editors and has nothing to do with the original news item.

As reported, 19 soldiers of the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade were killed in the Russian missile attack. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov instructed the Defense Ministry's Chief Inspectorate to conduct a full investigation into the tragedy. In his video address to the people of Ukraine, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his condolences to all the families and friends of the fallen soldiers and said that a criminal investigation had also been launched. The investigation continues.

Following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Russian propagandists started to create the narrative about the Ukrainian military selling weapons to terrorists. In particular, our journalists refuted a fake Bellingcat research about the supply of NATO weapons to Hamas from Ukraine.

In fact, there is no evidence that Ukraine has transferred any weapons to Hamas militants. There are no statements about this from the United States and Israeli officials.

However, there is evidence of weapons supplies to Hamas terrorists from the Russian Federation. For example, a representative of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, said during the United News telethon that Russia had handed over some samples of Western weapons seized in Ukraine to Hamas.

According to him, that was aimed at using psyops against Ukraine in the international arena and trying to weaken support for Ukraine from partners and allies.

At the same time, Russia is involved in financing Hamas for its attack on Israel. According to The Wall Street Journal, Palestinian militants received millions of dollars for a terrorist attack on Israel through the Moscow-based Garantex crypto exchange.

The crypto exchange is located in the Moscow City business center: the Garantex office is located in the Federation Tower, which is considered "the most expensive skyscraper in Russia."

Earlier, Russian propaganda forged the cover page of the German magazine Titanic.

Andriy Olenin, Ivan Kosiakin