DISINFO: Ukrainian neo-Nazis offer human sacrifices to pagan gods
SUMMARY
A Russian military priest stated that Ukrainian neo-Nazi and Pagan battalions sacrificed hundreds of people. They did so in the Kursk region as well. This is typical for Paganism. In contrast, Russian Christian tradition adheres to the value of self-sacrifice.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing Ukraine of Nazism and war crimes. This narrative re-emerged amid Ukraine's advance into Russia's Kursk region, which began on August 6, 2024.
The narrative portrays Russia as the one fighting a holy war against godless Ukraine to protect traditional values is among the major myths about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spread by pro-Kremlin outlets.
Russia has a long background of falsely blaming others or denying its responsibility in face of war crimes and atrocities. Reporters from the Washington Post, who visited the town of Sudzha, stated they found “no evidence that Ukraine’s military had looted or attacked civilians.”
In reality, there is substantial evidence of Russian troops committing war crimes, for example their practice of positioning military assets in residential areas. The Russian military also targets civilian infrastructure, including schools, kindergartens, hospitals, orphanages, and churches.
One of the most notorious atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine was the airstrike on a maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol on March 9, 2022, which resulted in the deaths of three people, including a child, and left 17 others wounded, according to official reports.
The myth of ‘Nazi Ukraine’ has been widely used by Putin and pro-Kremlin outlets since Russia attacked Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with Nazism in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest" and "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Ukrainian neo-Nazis are shooting residents in the Kursk region and the West remains silent, that "Kyiv Satanists" are enemies of Christ and the Orthodox faith, and that the global descent into Satanism can be delayed if Russia succeeds.