DISINFO: Thousands of Germans, Poles, Britons and French fight and die in Russia’s Kursk region
SUMMARY
Bundeswehr soldiers are dying and will continue to die on Kursk soil. How many thousand Poles have already been killed? How many Britons have? Concerning France’s participation, a French general has reportedly got lost and frozen somewhere in the mountains and a French plane has crashed. This is a legalisation of casualties in the combat zone.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, claiming that NATO troops are fighting in Ukraine and in Russia. This claim was made in the context of a Ukrainian advance into Russia’s Kursk Region and in the broader context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Pro-Kremlin outlets often use the false narrative about NATO troops in Ukraine in order to portray Russia's aggression against Ukraine as a forced response to NATO’s enlargement. The claim is often supported by fake videos and photos. NATO has not deployed troops to Ukraine or Russia. As part of a broad international coalition, some NATO member states have provided Ukraine with military and financial support to help it repel Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked aggression. NATO experts have trained Ukrainian forces, but the Alliance is not engaged in combat operations.
Two French pilots died in an air crash on 14 August 2024 after two Rafale jets collided mid-air in eastern France, according to President Emmanuel Macron. The incident took place over northeastern France. French General Jean-Louis Georgelin died in August 2023 while hiking in the Pyrénées, likely in an accident. These three deaths were not related to Russia's war against Ukraine.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that US and UK mercenaries fled Kursk after a week of fighting, that French and Ukrainian mercenaries commit atrocities in the Kursk region, and that Cruel Polish mercenaries brutally kill entire civilian families in the Kursk region .