At the end of September, 2024, the reports diverged in Runet that the wife of the US Air Force military personnel said that her husband had died during the Russian attack on the military airfield in the Khmelnitsky region of Ukraine. She allegedly mentioned the five destroyed fighters set by Kyiv. We checked the reliability of such publications.
On September 26, in the Russian segment of the Internet, information appeared that as a result of the Russian missile strike of the Russian Federation on the military airfield in the Staroconstantinovs of the Khmelnitsky region, the American military was killed and five F-16 fighters were destroyed. Telegram channel of the TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko (98,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) clarified: “Other sources report that they were destroyed from two to four F-16, but there is no evidence of this yet.” The source of this information is named by a certain Melanie Malvin-Parker-supposedly the wife of an American pilot who told about everything on her Facebook page.
TEELGRAM channels were also written about that alleged post "Sanya in Florida"(485,000 views),"The world of Mikhail Onufrienko"(240,000),"Ukraine.ru"(133 000), Borisenko Dmitriy (58,000) and "Voenondelo (military affairs)"(55,000), and also"War. Without fakes"(3800) - channel of military analysts from Quasifactcheck project "War with Fakes." Among the media about the death of the US pilot, they reported "Arguments and facts","Russian newspaper","Moscow Komsomolets","Reporter" Life.ru And "Reginum"(The last of these notes claims that the pilot died on September 25).
Moreover, not all the media who shared this story were confident in its truthfulness. For example, in a wire Telegram channel Fighterbomber (354,000 views) The news was commented as follows: “Anxious ... But, of course, I would like to see a direct link to the aunt page”, and the author “South Watch"(55,000) wrote that there are questions to the distributed information. Publications "Gazeta.ru" Lenta.ru And "Evening Moscow"In their notes, they specified:" Many Telegram channels agreed that this information is a fake "(but the names of these channels were not given).
September 26 Air Force of the Armed Forces Reportedthat on the morning of that day they recorded three launches of the aeroballistic missiles of the Dagger from the airspace of Russia in the direction of Starokontinov, where Located Military airfield. The Ukrainian military in their report did not say that the missiles managed to bring down, and noted that information about the places of defeat "is not public."
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation did not comment on the airfield impact on the airfield in Staroconstantinov, but there was a lot of unofficial information on the network. For example, RIA Novosti with reference to the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Sharia reportedthat as a result of the attack on the airfield in Staroconstantinov, four F-16 were destroyed. Such fast Sharia really has (more than 1 million views), but he did not call the source of information and specified that it was checked. Later, Russian "military" Alexander Kotz (133,000 views) with reference to some Ukrainian sources He wrotethat the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost up to four American aircraft, but clarified that there was no evidence of this. Ukrainian center of counteracting misinformation He called it Messages about the destruction of four fake fighters. Telegram channel Win/Win (262,000 views), in turn, asserted About the defeat of two F-16. Later in the same place They said and about the death of foreign instructors and aircraft engineers: in Starokonstantinov, supposedly Died Nine officers of the NATO Air Force headquarters (six of the USA and three from France), and 13 more were injured (seven British and six technical specialists from the Netherlands). None of these posts were mentioned by Malvin Parker and a screenshot of her alleged entry on Facebook was not given.
As the author of the Fighterbomber channel rightly noted, in any of the publications about the wife of an American pilot mentioned at the beginning of this analysis, a link to her post was not given. The proof is only a screenshot, allegedly made four hours after the record on the Malvin-Parker page. At the same time, many resources referred to the Telegram channel “Military Observer” or placed a screenshot with its branded tank. There is a post with a viral image I went out September 26 at 14:42 Moscow time and scored more than 81,000 views. Moreover, in further publications of this channel It was said O defeat Only two F-16. However, the Warmarmark of the "military observer" is absent in some later posts. In addition, the third, more complete version of the screenshot became viral - it captures part of the section with photos. By keywords, it was “verified” that the earliest appearance of this option took place at 14:41 in the Telegram channel “Kostyan Cat - Official Channel"(80,000 views). Earlier he and the "military observer" repeatedly were Closed In the spread of fakes, and also became their primary sources.
Judging by the photo, Malvin-Parker in her profile, she is also a pilot and allegedly published her post from the air base Altus in the USA. The text reads:
"Stephen is dead. My husband is dead. Fucked Russia and fucking Ukraine! He died because of all this nonsense with a program of foreign instructors. I don’t know why he agreed ... He was not at home for several months. And now he is simply not. And I do not understand how they are going to return my husband from this damned Staroconstantinov! And who will return the rest of the dead people to their families here? Someone is upset because of these five fucking F-16. You are fucking idiots. Enough. Our people are dying in the same way and for what?"
TV channel "Tsargrad"In his note, he emphasizes:“ Only its geolocation gives reliability to the message - it is always marked in case of publications, if it is not specially hidden. The message is written and sent from the city of Altus, the state of Oklahom. This town for 18,000 inhabitants lives mostly due to the existence of a number of large air base of the United States. ” However, the Facebook user in his post can indicate any geotheg, so its presence cannot be unambiguous evidence of something.
"Verified" could not find on Facebook nor profile A man named Melanie Malwin-Parker, nor a post with a text about her husband who "died because of all this nonsense with a program of foreign instructors." Although the screenshot of the alleged post was published in low resolution, we found the original photo that served as an avatar of the indicated profile. It turned out that in the search results for Google on the request of USAF Female Pilot Melanie (“Women-Pilot of the US Air Force Melanie”) a similar picture issued One of the first. In this photo taken in April 2024 in Florida, captured Captain Melanie Klyusner, flying under the call sign mah (Mach). She Heads F-35a Lightning II Demo Team- Special group pilots who demonstrate the fighting capabilities of the F-35A fighter.
Klyusner really Married, but of all social networks it actively leads its page only in InstagramWhere there are no messages about the death of her husband. Moreover, judging by some joint photographs And posts, her spouse is not Steven, but Kolby, and on the viral screenshot it is not he who is shown. Kolby also serves in the US Air Force.
As for the activity of the Clyusner on Facebook, there is some pages with the same name. Apparently, the real Account The pilot, created back in 2006, was almost not updated since 2018. However, there are on the platform profile With the same avatar as on a viral screenshot, but instead of the surname Malvin-Park, Mah Clyusner is indicated there. From post 2014 can be concluded that this page is conducted by a person who speaks in Indonesian, but since August 2024, the profile has become devoted to the activities of the American pilot. Moreover, recently the page has been updated very actively: for example, on October 1, 24 posts for an hour appeared there, on October 3 - 13 posts per 50 minutes, October 7 - 21 posts for 20 minutes.
Most likely, it was this fake profile that was the basis for creating a viral screenshot. So, on September 25, 2024 there were published three post Allegedly from the Altus air base (in fact original photos Made In April 2023). Apparently, one of these publications was changed, and the already edited image was distributed through anonymous Telegram channels.
This version is confirmed by the fact that the pictures shown on the viral screenshot in the section with photographs are completely coincided with those that were published On the fake page Clyusner on Facebook.
On this, false reports of the broken F-16 did not end. For example, in the English -language segment of social networks X, a photo with an allegedly knocked fighter, which was previously transferred to Ukraine, was widely dispersed. On September 26, it was published by the user Olga Bazova (266,000 views), and the next day - official Account Embassy of the Russian Federation in South Africa (916,000). “When you ask Ukrainian pilots, where there are F-16s,” the signature reads in both cases. In fact, the picture was Made Back in May 2019. Then reportedthat the F-16 fighter fell at the warehouse near the March Air Reserv Base air base in Perrisa, California. The aircraft refused hydraulics when trying to land, but the pilot managed to catapult. The Ukrainian coat of arms was shown to the tail of the aircraft.
In addition, in some posts about the unconfirmed death of nine NATO officers (including six US citizens) in Staroconstantinov, a picture of eight coffins covered with American flags is given. In the publication of Telegram channel "The world of Mikhail Onufrienko”(243,000 views) states:“ All of them are sent home in the tombs, and based on the power of strokes with “daggers” - in closed. ” The record does not directly say that the photo is connected with recent events in Ukraine, but judging by the comments, it misled the readers. In fact, the picture was Made In August 2020. It captures how the US military gives honor to the bodies of seven marine infantrymen and a sailor who died after a floating tank during the exercises Sounded off the coast of California.
Thus, in open sources there is no evidence that as a result of the shelling of the Ukrainian air base in Staroconstantinov on September 26 the personnel military was killed. This story is built on the screenshot of a non -existent entry on Facebook. Apparently, to create a fake, unknown people edited a post published in a fake profile of a real American pilot.
With reference to the same screenshot, many media reported the destruction of several F-16 fighters during the blow of the Russian army. This information cannot be confirmed by open sources. On the one hand, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, recognizing a blow in the direction of the airfield, did not report missiles and noted that they did not disclose information about possible hits. On the other hand, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, regularly reporting on the destruction of military equipment of the enemy (often in Unrealisticly large quantities), the successful attack on September 26 was not reported by Starokanstanovov. So far, it is reliable It is known About the loss of one F-16, delivered to Ukraine by Western allies. This happened on August 26, 2024, the Ukrainian pilot died.
This is not the first time that for the spread of misinformation on the consequences of Russian blows in Ukraine, fake screenshots of posts in social networks are used. For example, in early September Hanged Two messages: The first about the fact that as a result of the shelling of Poltava, instructors from Sweden were supposedly injured, the second - that the blood for the treatment of these Swedish military forcibly forced to take minors. In both cases, fake screenshots of non -existent posts on Facebook were used.
Photo on the cover: social networks
- Is it true that after a missile strike on Poltava, Ukrainian children donated blood for the wounded Swedish mercenaries?
- Is the video true, in which the policeman is pouring blood at the doctor of the Okhmatdet children's hospital in Kyiv?
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