Russian pseudomedia started spreading fake news about "new states" created in Ukraine as early as 27 February

Alyona Mazurenko – Wednesday, 2 March 2022, 17:52

Some websites run by the invaders began publishing news about the alleged surrender of Ukrainian regions and the formation of a pseudo "federal republic of Ukraine" on 27 February.

Source: various Russian propaganda websites

Quote: "We are the free people of the Kharkiv, Mykolayiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, and other regions of Ukraine and we announce the formation of a new democratic state, the Federal Republic of Ukraine."

Details: The fake news was spread by small regional media outlets, probably cut off from reality by the propaganda of Russian state television.

This post, which has nothing in common with reality, was published on the Myr i my [World and us] website on 27 February.

Currently all Ukrainian cities are resisting the Russian offensive. Local government representatives from across the whole country have joined forces to resist Russia’s invasion.

According to the Mayor of Kherson, Igor Terehov, the city of Kherson will stand and will fight off the enemy’s advance despite the missile strikes. Terehov added that right now the unity of Ukrainian government authorities, the people of Ukraine, and the citizens of Kharkiv is as strong as ever.

In the Chernihiv region, everything is currently relatively "calm". Earlier it was reported that Belarusian troops have entered the region, but the Ukrainian government has not yet made any official statements about the involvement of Belarus in Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Vitaly Kim, Head of the Mykolayiv Regional State Administration, reported that as of 2 March there are many bodies of dead Russian invaders in the city. An enemy landing party was destroyed there on Wednesday.

Kim has published photos and videos of civilians fending off the enemy troops in the region and is publicly calling for a "hunt down" of the invaders.

In the Sumy region, fighting has lasted for several days. Civilians and territorial defence troops have been killed, but the city has not surrendered to the invaders.

On 1 March, as the enemy’s vehicles entered Sumy, Head of Military Administration Dmytro Zhyvytskiy called for providing the city with weapons and deploying a unit of the Armed Forces there.

On 2 March, Zhyvytskiy held talks with the Russians in Konotop and agreed that they would not deploy troops or touch the Ukrainian flag in Sumy, and the Ukrainians would not shoot at them in exchange.

It is worth noting that the fake news about the alleged "salvation" of the Ukrainian people from "neo-Nazism" are accompanied by a photo of the former Partiya Regioniv MP [the pro-Russian party of the former president Viktor Yanukovych]  Oleg Tsarev, who fled to then already occupied Crimea after the revolution in 2014.

The fake news reports that Tsarev was "appointed the prime minister of Ukraine."

This is not the first case of misleading publications. In particular, on the morning of 26 February, a Kremlin-controlled Russian media outlet published a pre-prepared article on Russia’s victory over Ukraine.

Russian prisoners are telling the Ukrainian military that Putin hoped to seize Ukraine in three days. The Russian military was given enough food for just that length of time. Earlier, social networks published photos of Russian troops’ rations, which had an expiry date of 2015.

Ukrainian authorities have warned that the enemy may resort to provocation and fake news, including alleging the surrender of Kyiv.

Ukrainians are asked not to believe in such fake news.