On July 20-21, Georgian and Russian-speaking Facebook accounts (1, 2), and Russian state media (1, 2) published a video showing a policeman applying red paint to a person dressed in a doctor’s uniform. The circulated visual material is linked to the bombing of a children’s hospital in Ukraine, with claims that the footage of the injured is staged. Russian-speaking accounts allege that the Ukrainian government hired British curators to simulate dead and injured victims.
The video allegedly showing that actor doctors with red paint were involved in the bombing of a children’s hospital in Kyiv does not reflect reality. The rocket attack and the injuries of Ukrainians have been confirmed by international organizations. As for the video, the uniforms of the “actor” doctor and the policeman differ from those worn by professionals in Ukraine, indicating that the footage is fabricated and created to discredit Ukraine.
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What do the photos shared by Russian-speaking accounts show?
Russian-speaking accounts and Russian state media also published photos of the aftermath of the bombing of a children’s hospital in Kyiv along with the video. The doctor shown in the photo has a blood stain on his uniform similar to the one in the video. Social media accounts claim that the same person appears in both the video and the photos. The released footage shows Ukrainian pediatric surgeon Oleh Holubchenko, who is also visible in photos released by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine after the bombing.
Source: Ministry of Health of Ukraine
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What flaws can we find in the circulated footage?
The “Ukrainian Center for Combating Disinformation” issued a statement regarding the circulated video, noting that the claim is false and no actor doctor appears in the post-bombing footage of the hospital. The center highlighted several details, including: the police officer’s equipment lacks a belt system and helmet cover, the placement of the patch with the National Police insignia violates uniform regulations, and the police have not worn such high boots for a long time, now using specialized athletic shoes. Additionally, the material of the medical personnel’s uniform and the real one is entirely different, and the real doctor’s uniform has a horizontal seam on the back.
The Ukrainian fact-checking portal StopFake, after examining the video, determined that besides the horizontal seam, the doctor’s uniform pants have a pocket on the back, which is not visible on the uniform shown in the video.
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Attack on the Children’s Hospital and Kremlin Disinformation
On the evening of July 8, Russia launched an airstrike on several cities in Ukraine. The largest children’s clinic in Ukraine was also bombed. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 31 people, including 8 children, were injured, and 2 died on the clinic’s premises.
The attack on the children’s hospital was confirmed by international organizations. For example, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stated that the destruction and casualties were caused by a direct strike on the children’s hospital. The international human rights organization Amnesty International also responded to the bombing of the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, noting that Russian missile strikes across Ukraine resulted in civilian casualties and damaged the children’s hospital buildings. The bombing of Okhmatdyt was actively covered by credible Western media (1, 2, 3, 4).
Shortly after the bombing of the Kyiv children’s hospital, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that their target was not civilian infrastructure and that “numerous photo and video evidence clearly confirms” that the destruction was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile. Verification determined that the attack was carried out indeed with a Russian missile.
Questioning the war in Ukraine and specific incidents as if they did not happen and were staged with actors is a widely used method of Russian propaganda. Similar claims were spread in the past as well, read more in the articles:
- The War in Ukraine in 2022 or the First Aid Training in 2016 – What Does the Photo Collage Show?
- A Blogger from Mariupol, Who Was Accused of Faking a Pregnancy by Russian Media, Gave Birth to a Child
About the Source:
Lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili regularly spreads anti-semitic, anti-Ukrainian, and anti-Western disinformation on Facebook. The false claims he published have been fact-checked by Myth Detector multiple times.
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