The Russians are trying to shift responsibility for yesterday’s shelling of a children’s playground in downtown Kherson. Through local collaborator Volodymyr Saldo, Russian propaganda is retransmitting the idea that the Shumensky neighborhood was shelled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thus, Ukrainian forces allegedly want «to “discredit” the occupying army».
The collaborator Volodymyr Saldo wrote about the «self-shelling» on his Telegram channel.
“Kyiv staged a bloody provocation in Kherson to drown out the outrage after the tragedy in Starobilsk. The criminal Kyiv regime carried out yet another dirty provocation. In Kherson a strike was carried out on a children’s playground. A man was killed, his wife and two small children were wounded”, – Saldo notes.
The traitor also «officially reported» that Ukrainians «kill children» to provoke Russia into retaliatory action, and then shell themselves to blame the «heroic warriors of the Russian Federation».
Of course, the collaborator’s speech is complete nonsense, intended to justify the monsters who wear the uniform of the Russian army. Kherson residents know perfectly well that the shelling of their city is carried out from the left bank of the Dnipro, and Volodymyr Saldo himself, after such statements, is an accomplice to war crimes. Moreover, the traitor provides no concrete evidence of «self-shelling» apart from his own «word of honor».
However, this is not the first attempt by Russian propaganda to justify the war crimes of their compatriots. Thus, in January 2026 the occupiers struck a minibus in the regional center, of course blaming the Armed Forces of Ukraine for it.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine struck a scheduled bus in Kherson with MLRS. Ukrainian media have already called this Russian aggression, but within the AFU command they speak of a miscalculation”, – noted «journalists» from the propagandist TV company «Tavriya», operating on the left bank of the region.
It should be noted that no lie will absolve the Russians of responsibility for the war crimes they have committed, and Saldo – from punishment for covering them up.