“Kherson residents are massively ill with rabies, kill and burn their pets, and the Ukrainian authorities do not notice this problem” – this is roughly the gloomy picture of life in the liberated territories of our region painted by Russian “journalists”. According to the occupiers, an epidemic of the mentioned infectious disease is ongoing on the right bank of the Dnipro. To support their words they even present photographic evidence, which, however, is fake.
Pro-Russian Telegram channels report on the rabies epidemic.
“What will happen if you dig a pit near a settlement with a dozen carcasses of animals sick with rabies? We continue to expose the mess in Kherson region on the right bank, where incompetence is flourishing and stinking – literally. It is about the uncontrolled spread of rabies allowed by local “leaders” and the military. This is no joke: stray dogs and foxes bite people, there are no vaccines, zero help,” – note the administrators of the Telegram channel “Dneprovsky rubezh”.
As proof of their words, propagandists posted photos that were allegedly taken in the settlement of Dudchany in the Beryslav district. They show notices calling on the local population to bring animal carcasses to a designated place for subsequent burial. To create the illusion of truthfulness of their messages, the Russians published these images in one of the Beryslav communities on the social network Facebook.
We found the corresponding publication on Facebook. It was posted in the group “Beryslav”, which has 57 members and has been inactive since 2023. The page of the fake’s author under the nickname Alexey Chekalin was also registered on the social network in 2023 and since then, apart from the “rabid photos”, it has had no activity. So we are dealing with a bot.
And the most interesting thing – the text of the notices themselves, which were allegedly posted in Dudchany. Here we are dealing with “hellish flours”, that is, a poor translation from Russian into Ukrainian via online services.
For example, the phrase “полеглі тварини” (“fallen animals”) in Ukrainian is unethical, since the word “полеглі” is used with reference to those who died in battle and by no means with regard to animals.
The phrase “Міри допоможуть запобігти…” is also a direct calque from Russian.
The phrase “Бережіть своє здоров’я та безпеку односельців!” – in Ukrainian also sounds somewhat odd.
This is not the first similar lie by the Russians about a rabies epidemic in Kherson region. Thus, in early October the Russians spread a fake that, the Ukrainian military in Beryslav district are massively destroying all animals and burning their corpses along with peasants’ houses.
A few words about rabies: in the village of Dudchany in Beryslav district a case of this disease was indeed recorded. It was likely brought by a wolf that bit a cow. Quarantine measures have been in effect there since September 21, and this is a common occurrence for the steppe districts of Ukraine. There are no mass epidemics, no farms on fire, and no “terrible victims”.
This material was prepared within the framework of a project supported by the NGO Institute of Mass Information and CzechAid