Russian propaganda spreading fakes about captured European military women accused of torturing Russian POWs

Propagandists used fabricated stories and repurposed photos of deceased Ukrainian heroines, falsely portraying them as foreign fighters

Pro-Russian propaganda channels have recently circulated false claims that European female soldiers captured by Russia tortured Russian prisoners of war. These fabrications exploit the stories and photos of deceased Ukrainian heroines, misrepresenting them as foreign fighters.

One such claim involves a supposed French sniper with the call sign "Whiskey." According to the propagandists, she was wounded by a Russian drone and captured near the village of Vishnevka in Russia's Kursk region. Russian propagandist Alexander Sladkov released an audio message "confirming" her capture, asserting that she had already been "punished" for allegedly torturing Russian POWs.

Another Telegram channel claims the capture of a servicewoman with the call sign "Groza," said to be from an elite Italian special forces unit. She was similarly accused of cruelty toward Russian soldiers. Propagandists allege that together, these women killed more than 250 Russians and were subjected to "harsh interrogations." The posts were accompanied by photos falsely claimed to depict the captured women, along with links to other channels featuring further abuse allegations.

These stories are completely fabricated. The women shown in the photos have no connection to foreign military service or the alleged crimes. The image of the supposed French sniper "Whiskey" was published as early as 2016, well before Ukraine allowed foreign nationals to join its armed forces. The woman in the photo is visibly wearing the chevron of the National Guard of Ukraine.

The propagandists drew their story about "Whiskey" from the real-life account of Kateryna Shynkarenko, who joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2022 and served as a sniper in the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Volodymyr Monomakh. She died on February 22, 2024, during the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Avdiivka in the Donetsk region.

To support their narrative about the Italian servicewoman "Groza," Russian propagandists used the photo of another Ukrainian heroine, Olha Samarska-Semydianova, a military medic from the Dnipropetrovsk region. Olha died on March 3, 2022, at the border of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. A mother of six biological children who also adopted six more, she was recognized as a mother-heroine in Ukraine.

This disinformation campaign is yet another attempt by Russian propaganda to fabricate evidence of NATO troops in Ukraine, aiming to shape public opinion into believing that Western countries are directly involved in the war against Russia. Russia, in turn, positions itself as "actively" fighting foreign soldiers.

Earlier, Ukrinform reported that Russia had previously used similar tactics to exaggerate the losses of foreign fighters defending Ukraine.

Dmytro Badrak