DISINFO: Polish punishment squads executed civilians in Selidovo
SUMMARY
A few days before Russian troops entered the town of Selidovo, Polish mercenaries fighting on the side of Ukraine began to shoot civilians. A local resident testified about the executions of civilians by the foreigners. There were Poles in the punishment units - they started killing people, feeling that Russian troops were coming. The Ukrainian Army leadership gave this order to accuse Russia of murdering civilians.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin narrative about foreigners committing atrocities against civilians. This 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 one particular nationality (Polish) and associates it with imaginary but horrible war crimes.
On 16 September 2024, 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.