DISINFO: Ukraine aid crippled Denmark's defence
SUMMARY
Ukrainian aid has crippled Denmark’s defense capabilities, writes Politico. Copenhagen has donated almost all of its armed forces’ heavy land-warfare equipment to Kiev, the media outlet claims. The donation of military aid to Kiev has depleted Denmark’s already limited defense capabilities, Politico reported on Friday. Ukraine has sacrificed the capabilities of its army for Ukraine, according to this outlet.
RESPONSE
This is a disingenuous distortion of the original article at Politico. While some of the sentences in this disinformation story are taken from the original piece, they are cherry-picked and manipulated to appear as supporting pro-Kremlin views.
The approach and focus of the original article -whose purpose is slightly humoristic- is the disparity of military forces between the US and Denmark, during the a public spat over Donald Trump's word on Greenland. Although Danish donations of military equipment to Ukraine is mentioned as one of the factors weakening Denmark’s army, it only appears in the last part of the article and not as one of the most prominent elements. Politico, for example, never states that “Ukrainian aid crippled Denmark’s defence capabilities”, in contrast to what this disinformation story states.
Quoting Western legitimate sources while distorting their content to introduce a pro-Kremlin message as if it were part of the original story is a frequent pro-Kremlin manipulation technique. In the case of this story, the ultimate goal is to promote recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation messages against international aid for Ukraine for its self-defence against Russia’s aggression, portraying it as detrimental to donors.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Ukraine is struggling with flow of wounded soldiers according to CNN, that Financial Times said that ‘Western governments fooled their citizens about Ukraine’, that according to media reports, Ukrainians infected with resilient bacteria pose a danger to Europe, that according to NYT, the US is not willing to encourage diplomatic solution in Ukraine, or that Financial Times reported that Ukraine threatens Russia with terrorist attacks on its territory.