The survivor of a bombing in Ukraine who was “turned” into fake news by Russia

After an air raid on a school in Chernihiv, Ukrainethe video of a bloodied survivor went viral on Ukrainian social networks.

But her story was soon replicated by Kremlin-friendly network accounts, including one promoted by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which unsubstantiatedly accused her of being fake news.

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“There was no hiss, no crack, no artillery noise,” he says. Tanya. “It just hit the building and all of a sudden everything went black. The building collapsed.”

Tania found herself in the middle of an air raid in early March. She was helping select clothes for a humanitarian campaign at school number 21 in Chernihiv, north of kyiv, when a missile hit the building.

Local authorities in Chernihiv posted a video from school number 21 on Telegram after the attack. (VYACHESLAV CHAUS/TELEGRAM).

Although the authorities did not mention the name of the school, the BBC was able to confirm which building it was through images published on the Telegram application.

Local authorities reported at the time that a Russian plane had attacked two schools that day, leaving nine people dead and four injured.

Tania was left unconscious after the explosion. She says that when she came to, she realized that she was alive and could walk. She got up, looked around her and saw people in a state of panic. She also saw bodies lying on the ground, including that of a woman who had been standing next to her a few minutes before the attack.

Terrified, she ran home.

Tania took these two photos before (left) and after (right) the attack on school number 21. (TANIA).

Once there, she posted a video on Instagram – still covered in blood and with visible injuries on her face – in which she explained what had happened.

“I was in school number 21 when the explosion happened,” he says in the video. “I survived. Good luck to you all. I hope they have better luck than me.”

“Why am I recording this story? It’s because there were a lot of kids in that school. I don’t know if they have survived. Please send this video to all your Russian friends.”

In a few hours, his video went viral in Ukraine. On Instagram alone it had tens of thousands of views and was taken up by various news websites in Ukraine.

Tanya’s video went viral on Ukrainian social media just hours after she posted it on Instagram. (TANIA/INSTAGRAM).

Tania told the BBC that she had amassed thousands of followers and received dozens of messages on Instagram, some supportive, others threatening.

Among those who wrote to him were users from Russia. Some apologized for the actions of the Russian authorities. But others did not believe his account and They called her a “fraud”.

accusations of invention

Very soon Tanya’s friends started sending photos taken from Russian and Belarusian media, in which the video was being described as a fabrication.

Those reports described her as a “schoolgirl”, stating that the injuries on her face were not real, and alleged that the blood on her face did not look natural and that her behavior was too “normal” for a person who had just survived a stroke. bombing.

Those accusations were false. Tania is not a “student”. She is 29 years old and worked as a waitress before the invasion.

Photos she took of herself the second day after the attack – which she shared with the BBC – clearly show facial injuries consistent with the video she posted on Instagram.

As for her apparent composure, Tania told the BBC that he was in “deep shock” when he recorded the video.

Tania’s injuries were clearly visible when she took this photo two days after the bombing. (TANIA).

“I was calm and I wasn’t afraid. She was just in shock,” she states. “A few hours after that, she was hysterical. For the next two days, she was unable to eat or sleep. She just cried. It was like a nightmare.”

Some Russian reports also claimed that schools across Ukraine had ceased operations at the beginning of the invasion and alleged that there could not be many children in the school at the time of the attack.

But that school was being used as a collection point for humanitarian assistance and it was considered a safe place by the local inhabitants, Tania points out, some of whom had gone there with their children.

Local officials confirmed that version. Vyacheslav Chaus, director of the Chernihiv regional administration, told us that the basement of the school was open so that civilians could take shelter there in case of shelling.

fake verifiers

Tania is one of a group of Ukrainian civilians who have been falsely accused by the Russian media – and even the Russian government – of having fabricated the attacks.

Among the key sources spreading these false accusations against Tania was an account called War against falsehoodswhose content about his video has been viewed more than 400,000 times on Telegram.

The account, which is promoted by the social networks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and its embassiesis a multilingual “fact-checking” project that claims to provide “unbiased information about what is happening in Ukraine.”

Although some of her verifications are genuine, they include false information such as the accusations against Tania. And its content repeats Moscow’s central points about the war: its version that Ukraine is the aggressor, that Ukrainians are perpetrating war crimes, and that all evidence of crimes is fabricated.

Sadness and recurring memories

Tania assures that she did not feel anger but sadness when she saw the false accusations that circulated about her online.

“I felt sadness and pity for these people who believe all those lies. They are so scared to admit that this war is real and that all these things are happening. So it’s easier for them not to believe it or to say that my false story. It is easier for them to believe that Ukraine is a theater and that we Ukrainians are actors.”

Tania has been given from Ukraine to Poland. She now she has a scar on her face. His vision was affected by the bombing and he says he suffers from post-traumatic stress.

“I have recurring memories of the attacks, even though I am in Poland,” he says. “Honestly, I don’t think I’m ready to go home.”

Source: Elcomercio