After the visit to Kherson of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a gruesome massacre of civilians will commence, which is why residents are asked to steer clear of the city center, reads a propaganda narrative promoted by Russian government media. In fact, both the Ukrainian army as well as Kyiv leaders were greeted as liberators, while new information started to surface after Russia’s retreat regarding war crimes Russian troops might have committed.
NEWS: “Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited Kherson. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are preparing to execute the civilian population of this city. […] This was possible after Russian troops regrouped on the left bank of the Dnieper.
Ukraine will start a purge of the civilian population in Kherson, the deputy governor of the Kherson region, Ekaterina Gubareva, has said. The Ukrainian official said the inhabitants of Kherson must stay away from the city center due to this threat. Previously, the representative of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, said executions and massacres of the population will take place”.
NARRATIVE: Volodymyr Zelensky visited Kherson to give the go-ahead for the massacre of civilians.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited Kherson on November 14, after the city was liberated by the Ukrainian army as Russian troops retreated to the left bank of the Dnieper.
Zelensky posted on his Telegram account various information about the developments in Kherson, reporting progress made with respect to ensuring electricity supplies, restoring landline channels and providing medical assistance to the local population. 25 tons of food, 3 tons of personal hygiene products and an ambulance were brought from the neighboring region of Mykolaiv. The Ukrainian president thanked Ukrainian servicemen for restoring order in this southern Ukrainian city. Liberated Kherson has no running water, electricity or Internet. Social media got flooded with images showing how the Ukrainian army was greeted by local residents. New information has also surfaced regarding how Russian forces treated civilians, and the international media wrote about Russian troops breaking into homes, looting, abducting or torturing people.
Mass-graves of civilians were discovered in Kherson, in addition to genuine torture centers, which the occupation forces used to break the resistance of local residents, who from the very start had opposed the occupation administration. Therefore, the Ukrainian army was not here to massacre the population, as Russian propaganda claims, but to save it from Russia’s war crimes.
Ekaterina Gubareva, whom the Russian media presents as the deputy governor of the Kherson region, does not represent the legitimate Ukrainian authorities, but rather the occupation administration set up by the Kremlin and legitimized via the annexation decree signed by president Vladimir Putin on September 30.
Gubareva allegedly banned the residents of Kherson from visiting the city center lest they should get shot, a piece of information confirmed by the Russian MFA as well.
In fact, Ekaterina Gubareva has no authority over the city, and her message was addressed specifically to the Russian public at home, to prove communication is ongoing between the occupation forces and the local population.
Veridica has proved, when talking to a Romanian-born Ukrainian serviceman, that civilians regard Ukrainian troops as a liberating force, whereas life is going back to normal in settlements where Russian forces have been driven out, the effects of which will become transparent over the course of several weeks.
Additionally, Veridica has disproved a number of false narratives fostered by Kremlin-linked media, designed to prove that Ukraine is massacring Russian speakers in eastern and southern Ukraine. The Russian media wrote in June that Ukrainian troops are massacring Russian speakers while withdrawing from Donbas, after in May, according to false narratives launched in Moscow, Kyiv came up with a plan to organize a genocide targeting civilians in Kharkiv. Russian propaganda has been trying to convince the public back home that news related to the massacres committed by Russian servicemen are untrue. In April, the Russian press wrote that the Ukrainian army is bringing bodies to Lysychansk to simulate a new massacre, after previously reporting that the crimes in Izium or Bucha are mere fabrications.
