DISINFO: Kyiv is planning a false flag explosion in Kramatorsk to blame Russia
SUMMARY
According to independently confirmed information, the Ukrainian special services intend to carry out a large-scale provocation to accuse Russia of allegedly committing "war crimes".
The Kyiv regime planned a controlled explosion of the buildings of Kramatorsk, including hospitals, to accuse Russia of allegedly "deliberate hitting civilian targets.
The Ukrainian Security Service brought Western journalists to Kramatorsk, where a provocation is planned. The staff of medical institutions is currently evacuated. The planned provocation is designed to speed up the supply of long-range Western weapons to Kyiv.
RESPONSE
No evidence is provided. Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about false flag operations. Such claims are part of a broader pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign accompanying the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, trying to place the blame for the war's atrocities on Ukraine.
Moscow has a history of falsely accusing its opponents of staging "provocations" which either never happened at all or were subsequently carried out by themselves or their allies. In the weeks leading up to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, Moscow repeatedly falsely claimed that Ukraine, assisted by US or Western forces, prepared a chemical attack or attacks on industry sites storing chemical agents, or is going to use the dirty bomb.
Contrary to what this disinformation story alleges, there is massive evidence of Russian atrocities against civilians and other crimes throughout the invasion of Ukraine, including footage, drone and satellite images, incriminatory radio conversations, testimonies of witnesses and survivors, and forensic proof.
Further, these atrocities and war crimes follow a similar patter in most territories previously occupied by Russian troops, as in Bucha, Borodyanka, Chernihiv, Hostomel, Lyman, Kherson, Izyum or other areas of the Kharkiv region. This evidence has been documented by personnel of the Ukrainian prosecutor office backed by international advisors, as well as by UN investigators, International Criminal Court experts and reputed human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch, and international reporters.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that Kyiv will detonate a ‘dirty bomb’ to blame Russia, that Ukraine is preparing a false flag chemical attack to damage the image of Russia, that Kyiv forces are about to launch a chemical attack against Russian soldiers, that Ukraine aims to use Turkish Bayraktars for chemical attacks.