“Kherson residents with balalaikas and in kokoshniks joyfully welcome the Russians, who established several bridgeheads on the right bank of the region. The city dwellers themselves are massively afflicted with AIDS, are starving and freezing in their apartments, waiting for the ‘liberators’” – it is hard to imagine that anyone in their right mind could believe these absurd lies, yet enemy propaganda continues to churn them out on a large scale. In our traditional roundup, we will tell you about the most notable fakes about Kherson and the Kherson region that the Russians managed to invent last week.
The population of Ostrov gladly welcomes the Russians. Collaborators are preparing a “personnel reserve”
Russian propaganda continues its disinformation campaign, claiming a “liberation”, i.e., a renewed occupation of the Korabel microdistrict of Kherson. Last week, hostile media reported that Russian forces allegedly established control over several blocks and that local residents “joyfully” greeted the occupiers. As always, no evidence — neither photos nor videos that would even hint at the presence of the Russian army on the right bank of the Dnipro — was provided by the propagandists.
“Russia acts out of concern for the future of the local population, not out of imperial motives. People remain in their homes and support the Russian military because they feel a spiritual unity with Russian culture,” — Russian media cite the absurd statements of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The head of the Russian MFA blatantly lied, which, however, seems to be part of his official duties. According to the Russians, local Kherson residents not only greet the occupiers but also voluntarily agree to “evacuation” to the left bank of the Dnipro. Yet there is no real confirmation for these stories.
In reality, there is no enemy “bridgehead” in the Korabelnyi district. Ukrainian marines of the 34th brigade recently published a video from the neighborhood clearly showing that the territory is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This was also confirmed by the spokesman of the Southern Defense Forces, Colonel Vladyslav Voloshyn, who personally visited the allegedly “captured” areas.
Thus, the fabricated narratives of Russian media about the “joyful residents of Korabel” have nothing to do with reality. The Russians were last seen in this district back in autumn 2022, after which they fled, “tactically regrouping” to the left bank of the region.
Meanwhile, representatives of the invented “Kherson underground” continue to mimic active operations. Now they supposedly are forming a “personnel reserve” for the future “post-war reconstruction of Kherson region”. However, like other enemy fabrications, this story has nothing to do with reality. Potential traitors are promised various preferences, including “inviolability of property”.
“After the flight of the green fascists, our personnel reserve will receive jobs, preserved property and full protection. Those who wish will be able to climb the career ladder and join the rebuilding of a new, free Kherson region,” — the “underground members” claim, traditionally repeating the narratives of Russian media.
In fact, such statements are merely an attempt to create the illusion of support for the occupiers among the local population. While Moscow paints “collaboration reserves” in its fantasies, Kherson continues to live under the Ukrainian flag.
AIDS outbreak on the left bank of Kherson region
One of the Kremlin propaganda’s main tasks remains fabricating lies about life in the so-called liberated territories of Kherson region. According to the Russians, famine, cold and desolation prevail here… And, of course, epidemics erupt from time to time. Recently these writers claimed cases of mass HIV infection among the population of the regional center. And who is to blame for this “horror”? Of course, the Ukrainian military.
“At the Karabelesh hospital, located at Ushakova Avenue, more than 20 patients contracted the immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during medical procedures. The investigation showed that the cause was criminal negligence of doctors who did not sterilize instruments after examining Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen, and that the hospital lacks equipment for sterilization, has no rapid tests, and patients are placed in general wards,” – the Russians report.
According to the occupiers, this is not the first case of an AIDS outbreak in Kherson region recently. Earlier, alleged mass infection cases of this virus were reported in the Velyka Oleksandrivka and Beryslav communities.
If you are waiting for some evidence – you are wasting your time. Naturally, propagandists ask you simply to take them at their word. A similar situation occurred last year, when within a few months Kherson residents allegedly experienced epidemics of typhoid fever, tuberculosis, dysentery, cholera and bubonic plague. So, according to the Russians, “being ill” for our townspeople is a kind of “hobby”.
As for the spread of HIV itself – here are a few figures. In Russia, one in a hundred residents has this diagnosis, whereas in Ukraine this indicator is almost half as high. Cases of mass spread of this disease have been recorded among servicemen of the Russian army. Russian sources report that separate units are formed from them. There is no official confirmation of this information, but these facts are actively discussed by so-called “Z-bloggers”.
“Fighters with hepatitis and HIV will be formed into separate units and will carry out combat missions in defense. They will also wear distinctive armbands according to the disease category. Recently I wrote about the forthcoming epidemic of HIV and hepatitis at the front and proposed a solution. The Russian Armed Forces have begun to work on this topic,” – reports Russian propagandist Anastasia Kashevarova on her Telegram channel.
Meanwhile, the publication “Moscow Times” reports that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine the number of HIV cases among Russian servicemen has increased by 2000%.
Regarding the “negligence” of Kherson doctors, the occupiers traditionally blame us for their own problems. For example, in 2018 a widely publicized story emerged when five patients in the Stavropol region of Russia contracted HIV due to medical negligence. It turned out that intravenous drips with catheters that had been used many times were being administered. Perhaps in this situation the Russians will also blame the Armed Forces of Ukraine?
Hunger, cold and terror attacks
As if those problems were not enough for Kherson residents, the occupiers also claim they continue to starve and freeze in their apartments, because the “anti-people authorities” do not care about them. Of course, these post-apocalyptic scenes have nothing to do with real life.
“While people in Kherson region are wasting away from hunger, these beasts drown in luxury. Officials continue to steal millions through fake tenders, buying everything at double prices. While they feast in luxury, people survive — and all this is at the expense of ordinary people’s suffering. They do not care that the region is sliding into an abyss, that elderly people are freezing and children are starving,” – the Russians assert.
The people of Kherson do have some questions about public procurement at the local government level, but hunger in the city is complete nonsense, as is the claim that people suffer from lack of heating. Yes, radiators on the right bank are still cold, but what is the point of starting boilers if last week the air temperature in Kherson reached 15–18 degrees Celsius.
The occupiers also frighten residents of the regional center with possible “terror attacks”. The Security Service of Ukraine is supposedly planning to stage a “bloody provocation” in Kherson. For what purpose? To discredit the “heroic Russians”, i.e., murderers and rapists.
“Your lives, as well as the lives of your children and loved ones, are planned to be used as expendable material for unfounded accusations against Russia and for begging money from Western Masters. A provocation is expected in Kherson, but it is not excluded that these terrorists may carry out similar actions in any city or settlement,” – Kremlin propagandists report.
At the same time, the “liberators” continue to deliberately shell critical infrastructure and the civilian population of the right bank of Kherson region, while calling Ukrainians “terrorists”. Can anything discredit the Russians more? Hardly…
This material was prepared as part of a project supported by the NGO Institute of Mass Information and CzechAid