Russian propaganda on the Kherson direction increasingly abandons even the pretense of plausibility. Instead of facts — chilling tales, instead of evidence — anonymous “sources”, instead of reality — fantasies about miracle weapons, mass surrenders and fabricated “successes”. “Talking mines”, dollars with QR codes and fake prisoners are only individual episodes of a large information campaign aimed at intimidation, discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and hiding their own failures. How exactly these fakes work and why they fall apart at the slightest check — we analyze below.
Talking mines
Have you ever heard about explosive devices with loudspeakers that supposedly play human voices? Most likely — no, and that is quite logical. Such mines do not exist in reality. At least — outside the fantasies of Russian propaganda. Nevertheless, it is precisely such stories that occupation resources spread, claiming that the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly use similar “traps” on the Kherson direction.
According to the propagandists’ version, everything looks simple: a mine is delivered to the left bank of the region, after which pleas for help begin to come from the speakers. A person who responds to these cries is supposed to come closer and allegedly dies as a result of an explosion. The story sounds terrifying, but it has one significant feature — it is completely fabricated.
“Recently there have been more terrorist acts by Ukrainian armed formations against the peaceful population of Kherson region. The AFU deliberately train on unprotected people, using them as targets. Mines-traps equipped with speakers that broadcast calls for help pose a particular danger. Upon approaching such a mine detonation occurs,” the Russians report.
However, no evidence of the existence of such devices has been found. No photos, no videos, no technical descriptions. Moreover — no authoritative international organization, including UNMAS (UN Mine Action Service), HALO Trust, the Red Cross or the OSCE – has ever confirmed the existence of such mines.
Even the Kremlin propagandists themselves did not manage to show real images of their “wunderwaffe”. One of the enemy resources published an illustration supposedly of such a mine, but oddly enough it contained no speakers — the key element of the invented construction.
Dollars fall from the sky in Kherson
Russian propaganda continues to create absurd lies about life in Kherson and Kherson region. Thus, recently information appeared that the occupiers are dropping US banknotes over the right bank of Kherson region.
To understand why they would do this, you need to try to turn off your own logic. The bills are supposedly not counterfeit and are used to make Ukrainian soldiers surrender, because the dollars have a special QR code.
“In Kherson AFU militants are mass surrendering because of a QR code on ‘fake’ dollars. This is reported by TASS citing sources in law enforcement agencies. Thus, the interlocutor notes that AFU members especially readily surrender after the dropping of fake dollars with a QR code to the corresponding Telegram bot. The scheme works particularly well in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson,” the Russians report.
According to propagandists, the surrender of Ukrainian soldiers in these directions is “massive”, although this is not confirmed by any photo or video evidence. Narratives about greed and moral degradation in the ranks of the AFU are common for Russian propaganda, so there is virtually nothing new here.
But what is really interesting: the fake about dollars scattered across Kherson is the mirror image of another lie – allegedly the Ukrainian side is flooding the left bank of Kherson region with rubles that contain similar QR codes.
According to the fabricated scenario, the planted banknote looks as if someone accidentally lost it. If a Russian serviceman tries to scan the QR code, his phone automatically sends the coordinates of his location, after which Ukrainian forces strike with drones or artillery.
However it is obvious that such a story has no basis: there are no QR codes on Russian banknotes, so the claim that the occupiers “habitually scan them” looks absurd.
This is not the first such fake. In the summer occupation resources spread another version: allegedly Ukrainians scatter rubles to “clear” coastal territories — supposedly local residents reach for the banknote and blow themselves up on explosive devices. But even then these “reports” turned out to be another invention of the Russians.
Fake prisoners
From time to time fake reports appear in the Russian information space that Russians have captured someone from the Ukrainian military on the Kherson direction. These “drops” are mainly used to actualize enemy lies. That is what happened last week when the occupiers allegedly captured a fighter of the 34th Coastal Defense Brigade within the Marine Corps in the Korabel neighborhood. A corresponding video with an alleged AFU serviceman appeared in Russian media.
“In the video the captive Soroka Viktor Yuriyovych, born in 1991. He describes in detail how he was captured, how AFU defense on the right bank is organized and what problems they face,” the Russians claim.
The man repeats all the freshest Russian fakes — about a “bridgehead” in the Korabel neighborhood, about the AFU’s “atrocities” and the imminent re-occupation of Kherson. According to the “prisoner”, whose face was carefully hidden, fighters of the 34th brigade are given “one rifle for two”, and on the Island there allegedly operate groups of Ukrainian “militiamen” armed with clubs.
Why did the Russians hide the man’s face? It’s very simple: this actor was pretending to be someone else. The real Viktor Soroka continues to serve in the respective unit, which, of course, would be impossible if he were in captivity. To confirm this, the 34th brigade recorded a video with the real Soroka.
“The serviceman is alive, healthy and remains in the ranks, continuing to carry out combat missions. Below — his video address as direct confirmation of this fact. We note separately: such fakes are part of the systematic practice of the Russian command, when invented ‘successes’ are used for internal reports and to justify failures,” the 34th brigade stated.
This material was prepared as part of a project supported by the NGO Institute of Mass Information and CzechAid