DISINFO: French, Georgian and Polish mercenaries exterminated Sudzha civilians like cockroaches
SUMMARY
A Sudzha resident testified that in the first days of the attack on the Kursk region, the armed mercenaries from France, Georgia and Poland exterminated local civilians “like cockroaches”. The Ukrainian soldiers warned residents that if they did not leave, the “mercenaries would come and not leave anyone behind”.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin narrative about the Ukrainian advance in the Kursk region being carried out by foreigners who are committing atrocities against civilians. It is a part of a repeated pro-Kremlin narrative about the large-scale presence of Western 'mercenaries' within the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
This example can be considered as hate speech as it points out several nationalities (French, Polish and Georgian) and associates them with imaginary but horrible war crimes.
On 16 September, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had instructed his Ministry to invite the UN and ICRC to work in the Kursk region. The Ministry confirmed that it had issued the requests.
Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying such statements were "provocative". He made clear Moscow, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, expected the UN and ICRC not to accept the invitations.
See similar claims of disinformation: French soldiers hanged 8 children in Kursk region, Ukraine is preparing to invade Russia; The West / NATO fighting a hegemonic proxy war against Russia in Ukraine; The conflict in Ukraine was provoked by Washington; The conflict in Ukraine is a Western proxy war against Russia; Russia fights the collective West, not just Ukraine; NATO instigated a war in Ukraine to weaken Russia; Russia is at war with NATO and the Pentagon and only the soldiers are Ukrainians.