Russian media spreading fake about death of 'mobilized disabled' Ukrainian soldier

Russian propaganda continues its attempts to discredit mobilization in Ukraine

Pro-Kremlin media outlets, pro-war Telegram channels and bots on TikTok are spreading information about the death at the front of Ukrainian soldier Yevhen Khaimov. The propagandists claim that the soldier may have had a disability and was suffering from Down's syndrome, but he was allegedly "forcibly mobilized" to the 113th Territorial Defense Brigade and the soldier died five days later.

This is a fake. Yevhen Khaimov went to the front in the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in March 2022 and died in mid-January 2024 on the southern front. The fighter served in the 227th battalion of the 127th Territorial Defense Brigade.

He courageously defended his homeland from Russian invaders in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. He was presented with a medal "For the defense of the hero city of Kharkiv."

Viacheslav Zadorenko, head of the Derhachi city military administration, reported the death of the military man on social media back on February 2, 2024.

The soldier has a wife and two children. His relatives on Facebook are asking everyone to sign a petition to award Yevhen Khaimov the Hero of Ukraine title (posthumously).

Reports of Khaimov suffering from Down's disease or having a certificate of disability are a fiction of Russian propaganda to increase the emotional effect of the fake.

It is not the first time that Russian propagandists have cynically tried to discredit and reduce support for the Ukrainian army. In particular, Russian propaganda spread a fake story that a Ukrainian woman went to Poland in search of a new relationship after her husband was wounded at the front.

Previously, Russian propaganda spread a fake about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's purchase of a royal mansion in Britain.

Andriy Olenin