After an airstrike on a school in Chernihiv, Ukraine, a video of a survivor covered in blood went viral on Ukrainian social media.
But his story was soon taken over by pro-Kremlin accounts, including one promoted by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which falsely accused him of being a fraud. Understand the case:
“There was no sound of bombing,” says Tania. “Suddenly the building I was in crashed into and everything went black. Then it collapsed.”
Tania found herself in the middle of an air raid in early March. While helping to sort clothes for a charity campaign at school number 21 in Chernihiv, north of the capital Kiev, a missile hit the scene.
Although the authorities did not reveal the name of the school, the BBC was able to verify the building in question through the images published on the social media application Telegram.
Local officials reported that Russian planes hit two schools that day, killing nine and injuring four.
Tania passed out from the explosion. When She regained consciousness, she says she realized she was alive and able to walk. She stood up, looked around, and she saw that the people were in a state of panic. She also noticed bodies lying on the ground, including a woman who was with her minutes before the attack.
Frightened, he fled home. There, she posted a video on Instagram – still covered in blood and with visible scars on her face – explaining what had happened here.
“I was in school 21 when the explosion happened,” he says in the clip. “I survived. Good luck everyone. I hope you’re luckier than me.”
“Why am I recording this story? There were just a lot of kids at that school. I don’t know if they survived. Just send this video to all your Russian friends.”
Within hours, her video went viral in Ukraine. The clip has been viewed tens of thousands of times on Instagram and reposted by various Ukrainian news sites.
Tania told the BBC she has thousands of new followers and has received dozens of messages on Instagram, some supportive and some threatening.
There were Russians among those who wrote to him. Some apologized for the actions of the authorities in their country. However, others did not believe his story and called him a “fake”.
Is it fake news?
Soon, Tania’s friends began posting screenshots from Russian and Belarusian media, where her video was described as fabrication.
Reports from these countries described him as a “student”, claiming that the scar on his face was not real, the blood on his face looked unnatural and he was behaving very “normal” for a person who had yet to survive. a bombing.
The allegations were unfounded. Tania is not a “student” – she is 29 years old and worked as a waitress before the occupation began.
Photos he shared with the BBC on the second day after the attack clearly show facial scars, consistent with the images he posted on Instagram.
As for her relatively “calm” appearance, Tania told the BBC she was “deeply shocked” when she filmed the video.
“I was calm and not afraid. I was just shocked,” she says. “After a few hours I became hysterical. I couldn’t eat for the next two days, I couldn’t sleep, I just cried. It was like a nightmare.”
Some Russian news reports claimed that schools across Ukraine had stopped working at the start of the occupation, so there couldn’t be many children there at the time of the attack.
But Tania, who brought some of her children there, says the institution is used as a humanitarian gathering point and is seen as a safe place by local residents.
Local authorities have verified Tania’s account. Vyacheslav Chaus, head of Chernihiv’s regional state administration, told the BBC the school’s basement was open so that local civilians could hide in case of bombing.
Control
Tania is one of several Ukrainian civilians wrongly accused of fake news by the Russian media and even the Russian government.
Among the main sources spreading false claims about Tania was an account called War on Fakes, where the alleged “debunking” of her video received more than 400,000 views on Telegram.
The project, promoted on social media by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies, says it is a multilingual “fact-check” project that claims to provide “unbiased information about what is happening in Ukraine.”
While some of the fact-checks are genuine, they also contain false information, such as the allegations against Tania. Its content also mirrors Moscow’s arguments for the war: that the aggressor was Ukraine, that Ukrainians committed widespread war crimes, and that any evidence that Russia was wrong is fabrication.
Stories attributed to Fake War or repeating its arguments were broadcast in pro-Kremlin communities on the Russian social network VK, several Russian regional media outlets, and at least one Belarusian state news agency and television.
Sadness and flashbacks
Tania says she felt sadness, not anger, when she saw false claims about herself circulating online.
“I felt sorry and sorry for these people who believed all these lies. They are too afraid to admit that this war is real and that all this is happening, so it’s easier for them to find excuses or reasons not to believe or call me a liar’s story. I believe Ukraine is a theater and It is easier for Ukrainians to believe that he is an actor.”
Tania left Ukraine for Poland. Now he has a scar on his face. Her eyesight was damaged by the bombing and she says she suffers from PTSD.
“Even while in Poland, the attack has comebacks,” he says. “Frankly, I don’t think I’m ready to go home.”
source: Noticias
