On December 6, Dmitry Polyanskiy, the First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, during his speech on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine at the UN Security Council meeting, claimed that a formation similar to the Hitler Youth is being formed in Ukraine. According to Polyanskiy, the first training of mobilized 17-year-old orphans, who were supposed to be in the ranks of the 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade in Kharkiv Oblast, was held at the “Гайдамацка Сич” reservist training center, but the Ukrainian authorities deceived them and on December 3 one minor orphan died on the front line, information about which was shared by the director of the orphanage on social networks.
On December 6, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, voiced the information about the alleged formation of the Ukrainian “Hitlerjugend” at a special briefing. Polyanskiy and Zakharova’s statements were actively covered by Kremlin propaganda media (1,2,3,4), including ТАCC, Взгляд and Лента. The content of Polianskiy’s speech was also shared by the Facebook account of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations and the Facebook account of the Russian Embassy in Ankara.
Prior, on December 4, Russian propaganda media (1,2,3,4,5), including Pravda, Аргументы и факты, НТВ, and Московский Комсомолец actively disseminated the claim that a 17-year-old orphan mobilized in Ukraine, Volodymyr Sachala, died on the front line.
The claims about the alleged mobilization of teenagers in Ukraine and the death of a 17-year-old orphan are disinformation. The center “Гайдамацка Сич” started its activities in 2007 and is a patriotic educational center. Volodymyr Sachala was a 26-year-old military serviceman.
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The center “Гайдамацка Сич” started its activities in 2007 and is a patriotic educational center
The “Гайдамацка Сич” educational center started its activities in 2007, before the 2014 Russia-Ukraine war and the 2023 full-scale war. According to the information available on the center’s Facebook page, it was registered as an official organization in 2018. From the Facebook page, it can be seen that teenagers are trained in field and military expeditions and in crisis situations (the activities of the center are similar to the activities of the Georgian General Mazniashvili Youth Legion). The center also cooperates with various educational institutions. However, it is an independent organization and does not have the function of training reservists.
Following the spread of disinformation about the center, its head, Vadim Arnaut, spoke to the Ukrainian publication Ukrinform. According to Aranut, the activity of the center is focused on the development and patriotic upbringing of teenagers in various directions. He also noted that it is not so easy to enroll in the center, as it works with small groups, and enrollment in the group is possible only after a serious interview with parents. According to Arnaut, some of the graduates of the center are now indeed involved in combat operations, although the youngest of them is 21 years old.
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Volodymyr Sachala was a 26-year-old military serviceman
Volodymyr Sachala, who according to Kremlin propaganda media is a 17-year-old orphan, was actually a 26-year-old military serviceman. According to the Center for Combating Disinformation of Ukraine, Sachala was killed in the Druzhby region at the end of November. The center also notes that he was neither a teenager nor was he mobilized from an orphanage. In addition, according to Kremlin sources, Sachala served in the 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade, although he actually served in the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade. The information about Sachala’s death was also published by the Yavoriv City Council on December 2. He was originally from one of the villages of Yavoriv, Lviv district. The post mentions that Sachala started serving in the army in 2017 after graduation. After the military service, he returned to civilian life, but after the start of the war in 2022, he was again enrolled in the ranks of the Ukrainian army. Sachala’s photo is attached to the post of the Yavoriv city council. The Kremlin media used his name and image to spread disinformation.
Ukrainian fact-checking service StopFake also debunked the disinformation related to Sachala. StopFake spoke to Olesya Chikel, who, according to Russian propaganda media, is the director of the orphanage, and reported on Sachala’s death. Chikel categorically denied the claims and noted that he is the administrator of the ВСЕ БУДЕ УКРАЇНА group on Facebook, where she published official information about the death of Volodymyr Sachala. Chikel does not write anywhere in her post that Volodymyr Sachala was a 17-year-old orphan.
Russian propaganda sources systematically spread disinformation regarding the mobilization in Ukraine. Recently, there were false claims that pensioners were going to be mobilized in Ukraine, which is also one of the popular disinformation narratives. For more information, see the “Myth Detector” article:
Archive links: Russian Representation in the UN, ТАСС, ВЗГЛЯД, Лента, ПРАВДА, НТВ, Московский Комсомолец, Аргументы и Факты
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