Fake from Russian propaganda: Ukrainians purchasing housing in Kharkiv region to ‘legally’ end up in Russia
Russian Telegram channels, as well as bots on TikTok and YouTube, are spreading a video featuring a woman who says that recently “a certain percentage of Ukrainian citizens” have allegedly bought real estate in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region in order to "legally" end up in Russia in the coming years.
This is a fake. The woman in the video is Maryna Onishchenko, a Ukrainian from Kharkiv who moved to the aggressor country after Russia’s full-scale invasion. She is a collaborator and Russian propagandist and runs a blog on RuTube.
In her videos, the woman “advertises” life in Russia and claims that “Ukrainians have a good life in Russia” in contrast to Europe. In particular, Onishchenko's “creative work” includes a video about how “Ukrainians fled from Britain to Russia". The woman also interviews foreigners who have moved to Russia and shares various fakes about Ukraine on her social media accounts.
In the video about Kharkiv, Onishchenko expresses only her own opinion that Ukrainians are supposedly buying housing in the region, “expecting” that it will be occupied by Russia one day.
She does not provide any evidence for her words, does not refer to reliable and objective sources that could "confirm" narratives she is spreading. This is yet another fake news story and Russian disinformation aimed at spreading panic among Ukrainians. A similar wave of fakes from Russian propagandists appeared before the start of the failed Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region in the spring of 2024.
Experts estimate that since the beginning of the full-scale war, the real estate market in Kharkiv has suffered a significant decline - housing prices have fallen by an average of 50-60% due to constant Russian shelling. The Ukrainian real estate website LUN points out that due to Russian attacks, Kharkiv has some of the lowest apartment prices in Ukraine.
It should be noted that Maryna Onishchenko's husband, Pavlo, is also a collaborator and Russian propagandist. He previously worked as a criminal investigator in the Kharkiv police. After his dismissal from the service, he organized the Poton NGO. He became known in the Kharkiv region for his raids on pharmacies selling drugs without prescriptions and dubious shops selling alcoholic beverages.
In 2020, he was arrested and sent to a pre-trial detention center for assaulting law enforcement officers. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Pavlo Onishchenko asked to be released from custody and promised to join the territorial defense forces. After his release, he fled abroad, living as a refugee with his family in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom, but when he was summoned back to Ukraine for questioning, he fled to Russia.
Pavlo Onishchenko is active on social media and conducts live streams. In particular, he stated that “Kharkiv is under occupation” of the Ukrainian authorities and “awaits liberation” by the Russian Federation, and that after the war “Ukraine will not exist in its current form.” Old photos of Onishchenko with Kyrylo Stremousov, a now well-known former Kherson collaborator, can be found online. Together with other collaborators, Onishchenko has created a Russian website and a Telegram channel called Mriya, which he tries to pass off as Ukrainian.
The fake about the real estate in Kharkiv is part of a larger Russian information operations (IPSO) strategy aimed at creating panic and instability in Ukrainian society. Russian collaborators and propagandists are spreading fake narratives that Ukrainians are allegedly waiting for the Russian army and “dreaming” of living in Russia.
These claims are false. According to a poll conducted by the Razumkov Center in September 2024, 94% of Ukrainian citizens have a negative attitude towards Russia.
As reported by Ukrinform, the Russian propaganda invented a fake about the mobilization of men aged 19 to 21, who are allegedly promised payments of UAH 400,000.
Andriy Olenin
