In May 2023, the Russian -speaking segment of Telegram and the Russian media widely dispersed a message about the Ukrainian military, who were poisoned by volunteers. We checked whether this news plot has a foundation in reality.

The text and video telling that the 40 military of the 30th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "were poisoned to death", widely Disractible at Telegram May 9, after repost Publications of military commissar Murad Gazdiev in the Russia Today Telegram channel. The video shot a smartphone on which an audio message is reproduced from an unknown under the nickname Marjankopuk, claiming that some volunteers brought products to the 30th brigade, including dumplings, which allegedly served as the cause of poisoning and death of 40 military. At the end of the message, the author calls on "check the volunteers." Gazdiev notes that this message was found in the smartphone of the murdered Ukrainian paratrooper. With reference to RT 9 and 10, this plot I got it and in other media, including Federal - They wrote about this, for example, Lenta.ru And "News". Moreover, if in the text of the news on the “tape” there is a passage that “it is not known whether the Ukrainian military was intentionally poisoned or the incident occurred due to the inadequate quality of the product”, then the note was already under the “radio Sputnik” heading "Media: Ukrainian volunteers poisoned 40 military military military dumplings to death."

No confirmation, except the video in which the voice message is played, does not lead any of the above media. When searching for Google in Ukrainian, on request “otruni pelmeni ZSU” “verified” video clip With similar information, which distributed in the Ukrainian segment of social networks and messengers back in January 2023 and then refuted by Ukrainian factors. There is no doubt that this video is based on the same audio community, since the number of those who died at 40 people, and the 30th APU brigade, is mentioned, and the video in Gazdiev’s channel is visible on January 26.

No official statements or other evidence that the incident with poisoned dumplings is real, neither we, nor Ukrainian facts could find. Project Informnapalm I analyzed this message and reaction to it on January 27. How reported, the fact of the factor contacted several sources in the 30th brigade and did not find confirmation of poisoning. It is almost impossible to track the primary source of the voice message in WhatsApp, and the nickname Marjankopuk is only announcement About the sale of microwaves.

Similar messages The military poisoning appeared since the beginning of a full -scale war in February 2022 both in the Ukrainian information field and in Russian, but not one of them is careful consideration Not confirmed by any reliable sources. For example, in August 2022, the poisoning of eight Russian military rats in a hospital in Sevastopol was reported. By versions Ukrainian media, the reason was the negligence of the staff with the persecution of rodents. On the same day, the plot was creatively redesigned by Twitter users and turned In the history of radical partisan resistance with the transfer to the hospital "Pirogov with rat poison."

Colleagues from The Insider suggestthat the January audio community arose as a result of the application of several Ukrainian information reasons for different years. One of the messages about the mass (non-commercial) food poisoning of Ukrainian soldiers transferred by the businessmen-meters It spread In 2014. The second-not related to the Armed Forces of Ukraine-appeared in November 2022, when, due to the blows of Russian artillery on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine in Kyiv and other cities, electricity was often turned off. Then about the danger of poisoning with stale products told On his Facebook page, former Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anatoly Gritsenko.

It seems that these stories were superimposed on each other, which led to the emergence of a frightening Ukrainian newsletter, which after a few months got into the Russian media, received a “second wind” and experienced a new series of distortions.

Image on the cover: ̇Smet şahin