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War also rages online: two examples of misinformation by Ukraine
The war in Ukraine is not only a battle with bombs, but also an information war via social media. The warring parties bombard each other, their own population and their allies with propaganda and disinformation.
NOS this week, when verifying war footage, found two examples of misinformation being spread by, in this case, the Ukrainian government. Whether this was intentional cannot be determined with certainty. In one case the information is still online, in the other case the photo has been removed, but by then that photo had already been shared a lot.
A bakery
One of the examples can be found in a Twitter message from Emine Dzhaparova, the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister. On Monday she wrote about a Russian bombing of a bakery near Kiev. Thirteen people were killed. Her tweet was accompanied by the photo below.

Emine Dzheppar @EmineDzheppar

Russian occupants shelled the State Enterprise "Makariv Bakery" in the Kyiv region. It is known that 13 people killed. There were more people on the ground. There is no limit to the immorality of the Russian occupants. #StopRussianAgression #StandWithUkraine
2 days ago
The photo is of a bombing, but not of the incident she is writing about. If you look up the image via 'reversed image search' (a technique where you search for the origin of a photo), it turns out that the photo was taken during an air raid on a Syrian village near Aleppo on October 17, 2016. The maker is a photojournalist for Reuters news agency.
It is unknown whether the deputy minister deliberately placed a wrong photo. She was previously Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Information. That ministry was set up in 2014 to combat Russian disinformation. In any case, Emine Dzhaparova has not yet corrected the photo accompanying her tweet. She later posted the same message in Turkish , Arabic and Chinese , including the wrong photo.
a drone
Another example of misinformation by Ukrainian authorities is a photo of a drone that was widely shared in Telegram groups and on Twitter earlier this week. It was reported that a Russian drone was shot down in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine. The photo comes from Viacheslav Chaus, governor of the region.

Ridnа_Vilnа 33%@ua_ridna_vilna

Ніжинському районі збили російського безпілотника. олова ернігівської В'ячеслав Чаус

The war in Ukraine is not only a battle with bombs, but also an information war via social media. The warring parties bombard each other, their own population and their allies with propaganda and disinformation.
NOS this week, when verifying war footage, found two examples of misinformation being spread by, in this case, the Ukrainian government. Whether this was intentional cannot be determined with certainty. In one case the information is still online, in the other case the photo has been removed, but by then that photo had already been shared a lot.
A bakery
One of the examples can be found in a Twitter message from Emine Dzhaparova, the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister. On Monday she wrote about a Russian bombing of a bakery near Kiev. Thirteen people were killed. Her tweet was accompanied by the photo below.

Emine Dzheppar @EmineDzheppar

Russian occupants shelled the State Enterprise "Makariv Bakery" in the Kyiv region. It is known that 13 people killed. There were more people on the ground. There is no limit to the immorality of the Russian occupants. #StopRussianAgression #StandWithUkraine
2 days ago
The photo is of a bombing, but not of the incident she is writing about. If you look up the image via 'reversed image search' (a technique where you search for the origin of a photo), it turns out that the photo was taken during an air raid on a Syrian village near Aleppo on October 17, 2016. The maker is a photojournalist for Reuters news agency.
It is unknown whether the deputy minister deliberately placed a wrong photo. She was previously Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Information. That ministry was set up in 2014 to combat Russian disinformation. In any case, Emine Dzhaparova has not yet corrected the photo accompanying her tweet. She later posted the same message in Turkish , Arabic and Chinese , including the wrong photo.
a drone
Another example of misinformation by Ukrainian authorities is a photo of a drone that was widely shared in Telegram groups and on Twitter earlier this week. It was reported that a Russian drone was shot down in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine. The photo comes from Viacheslav Chaus, governor of the region.

Ridnа_Vilnа 33%@ua_ridna_vilna

Ніжинському районі збили російського безпілотника. олова ернігівської В'ячеслав Чаус