Media loyal to the Russian occupiers from the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region joined a disinformation campaign to spread a Russian propaganda fake about allegedly 1.7 million Ukrainian servicemen killed and missing during the full-scale invasion.
Pro-Kremlin media claimed that hackers had allegedly hacked the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s database with information about “1.7 million killed and missing Ukrainian servicemen.” Occupation media from the TOT of the Kherson region published messages of the same content.
The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine called this an “absolutely absurd fake,” since Ukraine in its years of independence has never had a regular army of 1.7 million people. As of January 2025, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the size of the Ukrainian army amounted to 880 thousand.
“The purpose of this fake is to demoralize Ukrainians, convince the world of the ‘exhaustion and inefficiency of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’ and weaken its international support,” the CCD said.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not provide current data on Ukraine’s losses. In February, Zelensky reported that 45 thousand Ukrainian servicemen had died in the war against the Russian Federation. Prior to that, in December 2024 the president noted that Ukraine’s losses had reached 43 thousand servicemen. According to the General Staff’s data, as of August 20 the Russians had lost 1 072 700 soldiers killed and wounded.
Recall, journalists identified Russian security officers who were brought in to run the “police” in the Kherson region.