In June 2024, a paradoxical phrase allegedly uttered by Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko spread on social networks. We decided to check if he said anything like that.
According to Telegram channels, the minister’s statement is an answer to a question about ways to prevent electricity shortages in Ukraine after attacks by the Russian army. The official’s full statement, bloggers say, sounded like this: “The fewer power plants we have, the easier it is to protect them. It's simple logic." As an illustration, a screenshot with the logo of the Ukrainian publication “Letters” is provided. Telegram channels, in particular, wrote about this “Snow avalanche"(160,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Dmitry Vasilets" (155,000) and "Sheikh Tamir"(127,000).
Since the start of a full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Russian army has regularly targeted Ukrainian energy grid facilities. By estimates Kyiv School of Economics, the amount of damage caused as of April 2024 is more than $56 billion. On June 4, at a government meeting, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal reportedthat as a result of Russian missile attacks the country lost 9.2 GW of electricity generation - half of its total capacity. According to him, 42 power units were destroyed, and a little more than a quarter of thermal power plants remain in working order. In turn, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky more than once statedthat Russia is successfully attacking energy facilities due to Ukraine's lack of air defense systems.
In these circumstances, the controversial phrase of the Minister of Energy should have caused a scandal primarily in Ukraine. However, this quote could not be found in the Ukrainian media, nor on department website, which is headed by Galushchenko.
Resources distributing the quote include in their posts a card with the logo of the Ukrainian news site “Letters", on which this phrase is written. However, in Telegram channel There is no edition of such a post. The design of the viral image is indeed similar to that used by Bukvi, but this is only at first glance. If you look closely, the font in the picture that went viral on social networks is significantly different from the original: this is most noticeable in the letters M and U.
Thus, the picture with the statement of the Minister of Economy of Ukraine is a fake. No traces of this phrase could be found in authoritative Ukrainian or international sources.
The earliest mention of a fake quote, which was found “Verified” using the TGStat service, was a post in the Telegram channel “Military observer", which was published on June 12 at 13:41 Moscow time and received 60,000 views. And the fake website card “Bukvi” was first posted in the channel “Gagauz Republic" (9500 views) same day at 1:59 p.m.
Cover photo: Trypillya Thermal Power Plant after a Russian missile attack/UNIAN
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