On November 21st, Georgian-language Facebook accounts (1,2,3) (including the ones affiliated with the pro-Kremlin Conservative movement) shared a photo collage showing two women. One of them is wearing a military uniform, while the other is covered with blood. According to the posts, the photos show how Ukrainians fabricate Russian crime scenes for the Western media.
An identical photo collage with a similar interpretation appeared a few days earlier on social networks and websites. On November 19th, 20th, and 21st, identical posts were published by a number of Russian-language Twitter accounts (1,2,3).
On November 20, similar posts were published on Russian social networks and portals (tsgtat.ru, politikus.info).
The information disseminated by Russian and Georgian language social media users, as if the mentioned photos prove that Ukrainians are fabricating Russian war crimes in the 2022 war, is false. In fact, the photos were taken in 2016 and show footage of a first-aid training session by the Ukrainian organization TacCat. One of the photos used in the collage was published by one of the participants, Liudmyla Bileka, on her Instagram in 2016. In a conversation with “Myth Detector,” she confirmed that the photos show the training conducted in 2016 and have nothing to do with the ongoing war.
Since the photos are only found in the mentioned collages and posts on the Internet, in order to verify the information, we have identified the persons depicted on them through the tool PimEyes, which allowed us to identify one of the women depicted in the pictures.
The photo shows Liudmyla Bileka, who conducts training for the Ukrainian first aid organization TacCat.
Bileka’s personal Facebook page indicates that she conducts first aid courses and training for TacCat. Both Bileka and TacCat’s Facebook pages are full of photos showing the use of mannequins and make-up while teaching.
As for the photos used in Georgian and Russian language posts, one of them was published on Liudmyla Bileka’s Instagram page in 2016, the description of which makes it clear that it indeed depicts a training of such kind.
In order to verify the information, “Myth Detector” contacted Liudmyla Bileka. She confirmed that the photos indeed show the training conducted in 2016 and have nothing to do with the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Similar disinformation, serving to discredit civilian victims in Ukraine, has been disseminated on Georgian and Russian-language social networks and websites many times in the past as well. For more, see the articles of “Myth Detector”:
- Who uses the Graves Discovered in Izium to Deny the Massacre?
- Denying Bucha Massacre – Who Questions the Evidence?
The photo also revealed that Liudmyla Bileka is an actress who plays one of the main roles in the movie “Atlantis”. The presentation of the film in Kyiv in 2020 was also attended by the former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. It was this photo of the presentation that allowed us to find Bileka’s identity.
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