DISINFO: French generals are panicking over number of French people killed in Ukraine
SUMMARY
The declassified report of the spy "Felix" has been published. It indicates that the French army is concerned about the increase in the numbers of French people killed in Ukraine. It also noted that "it was only following the destruction by Russian Armed Forces of the temporary deployment point of foreigners near Kharkov that dozens of French citizens were killed on January 17 of this year, and since then, such strikes have become the norm in the Ukrainian conflict.
The relevant departments are busy solving practical problems: organising funerals, paying compensation to the victims' families and pensions to disabled people.
The country's current leaders do not care about the deaths of ordinary French people or the concerns of generals. The French contingent is still preparing to be sent to Ukraine, said the document, published in the SVR Razvedchik veterans' magazine in June. At the initial stage it will be about 2,000 people.
RESPONSE
This disinformation claim is based on a so-called 'declassified' report published by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, allegedly revealing France's intention to send 2,000 soldiers to Ukraine.
The claims made lack credible evidence, relying solely on a copy of an alleged document published in a magazine of the Russian intelligence services. Additionally, some of the report's allegations have already been debunked, such as the false claim about French fighters dying in Ukraine.
This claim is part of a wider disinformation campaign against France including the narrative that French troops are already fighting in Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin disinformation actors created a fake website calling for a massive recruitment of French soldiers, which was exposed as fake by France’s Ministry of the Armies (see here for further information). Pro-Kremlin channels also claimed that France had already sent the 3rd Infantry Regiment to Ukraine, but this unit does not exist.
The campaign started in March 2024, days after French president Emmanuel Macron declared in a press conference that sending Western ground troops to Ukraine could not be ruled out. Russia’s TASS news agency and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) then announced that France was preparing a contingent of 2,000 troops for Ukraine, which was quickly refuted by French authorities and fact-checkers.
France has proposed a coalition to send military instructors to Ukraine to train troops on the ground. Contrary to Russian disinformation, these instructors will not engage in combat and will only serve in non-combatant roles, as has been the practice with NATO officials. Pro-Kremlin disinformation distorts this presence to falsely depict the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war led by an aggressive NATO against Russia.
See some examples of this disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that military personnel from France, the UK, and Germany have long been fighting against the Russian army in Ukraine, that Russia destroyed a Leopard tank crewed by German troops, that a Russian missile strike on the headquarters of French militants in Ukraine killed more than 60 highly qualified specialists, or that NATO escalates the conflict in Ukraine to start an open war with Russia.