In Mariupol, the Russians are planning to launch a large-scale disinformation attack to denigrate the Azov Regiment soldiers.
The adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andriushchenko has addressed the issue on Telegram.
“The Russians are preparing a massive disinformation attack targeting the international community, employing the parents of children, deported to Russia and Donetsk. Faced with the threat of separation with their children, parents are forced to record video appeals where they will “testify” that the Azov fighters and nationalist servicemen had been responsible for such separation, and that it was the Ukrainian military that hindered reunification of families, including parents with children, who were treated in hospitals,” the official said.
After uploading and spinning these videos, in order to enhance the informational and psychological effect, the invaders plan to tell that they “found and returned” the children to their parents. Petro Andriushchenko noted that such actions constitute a war crime on the part of Russia. The children’s parents remain in the occupied Mariupol district, unable to resist psychological pressure exerted on them by the Russians. The mayor’s adviser urged Ukrainians not to believe these appeals, which were recorded through coercion as part of yet another enemy psy-op.
As of May 12, the occupiers deported to Russia some 2,000 Ukrainian children.
