Russian propaganda once again demonstrates its “truthfulness”, compensating for a lack of facts with wild fantasies. The latest “sensations” from Kremlin megaphones resemble a mix of cheap drama and dark humor: in Kherson they supposedly “kill people for speaking Russian”, Ukrainian soldiers “eat cats and dogs”, and collaborator Saldo is building a metropolis on the site of an emptied city. The absurdity of these stories needs no proof — it is obvious from the first lines. How the Russians lied about the Kherson region last week – read in our usual roundup.
In Kherson people can be killed for speaking Russian
When Russian “journalists” run out of imagination, they “take out of the closet” their old narratives. For example, after a certain pause enemy propaganda returned to the old theme — “persecution of the Russian-speaking population” in Kherson. This time the occupiers invented that supposedly not only civilians who do not speak Ukrainian are under threat, but also servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who use the Russian language.
“Ukrainian radicals have organized a hunt for everyone who speaks Russian. They burst into homes, point weapons at children and the elderly, demanding: ”Speak Ukrainian!”. People live in fear, because even a neighbor can report them”, – the message says.
These statements are so absurd that they do not require refutation. Indeed, before the full-scale invasion most residents of the regional center spoke Russian, but the Russians, having unleashed a war against Ukraine, themselves catalyzed the process of Ukrainianization in society, so now more and more Kherson residents are consciously switching to the state language to distance themselves from the aggressor. However, of course, no one forbids Kherson residents from communicating in Russian, English, Tatar or any other language in the world.
Another example of propagandist nonsense is the claim that Ukrainian-speaking servicemen in the Armed Forces of Ukraine shoot their comrades for using the Russian language.
“Fighters on the Kherson front open fire on their Russian-speaking comrades, which supposedly indicates conflicts and discord within the ranks of the Ukrainian army”, – the Kremlin liars will authoritatively claim.
In reality these “news” are just another attempt to sow distrust, discord and fear among Ukrainians. The servicemen of the AFU, whatever language they speak, – are united in their goal – to defend the country from the occupiers.
Ukrainian soldiers eat cats and dogs
Enemy propaganda traditionally tries to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including units operating on the Kherson direction. The occupiers baselessly accuse Ukrainian servicemen of Russophobia, looting and an addiction to hard drugs. And now a new lie has appeared – the AFU supposedly eat dogs, cats and other pets of Kherson residents, since provisions allegedly stopped being delivered to their positions.
“On the Kherson direction the Ukrainian army completely failed logistics: units are sitting without food, water and ammunition. Soldiers are dying of hunger. Locals say – the military are already hunting everything that moves – (cats and dogs), so as not to remain hungry. Previously our soldiers talked about this, now – the Kherson residents themselves,” the Russians report.
Any evidence – traditionally absent, and taking the occupiers “at their word” is futile. Although during the Russo-Ukrainian war instances of consuming pets as food were indeed recorded. Only it was not the AFU who did this, but the occupiers themselves.
For example, back in May 2022 the SBU published correspondence of a Russian invader with his friend, in which the fighter said that his unit had to eat dogs. This happened on the Kherson direction. For locals who watched how in the first days of the occupation the “liberators” looted grocery stores, this information should not be surprising. A similar situation occurred in 2022 in the town of Vorzel near Kyiv.
During the occupation of the town of Yampil in Donetsk region, the Russians did not stop at dogs. The occupiers ate most of the animals from the local zoo, including bison, kangaroos and ostriches.
Basically, there is nothing surprising here, because, for example, the “logistics geniuses” of the Russian Armed Forces for some reason decided that transporting part of the provisions for their troops in three-liter glass jars in front-line conditions is a good idea. Not to mention that, hoping for a “blitzkrieg”, Russian soldiers at the start of the full-scale invasion had food for only a few days.
So the fake about AFU servicemen feeding on dogs and cats is another example of the Russian propaganda principle of the “crooked mirror”. That is, the occupiers simply accuse the Ukrainian side of their own shameful deeds.
Saldo’s “Great Construction”
Kherson traitor Volodymyr Saldo decided to amuse the public with yet another fantastical construction project. This time he announced that in occupied Skadovsk as many as 18 multi-storey buildings with over six thousand apartments will be built. It seems Saldo’s dreams are large-scale — so much so that in order to inhabit the promised apartments the entire town would have to be relocated there, along with several neighboring villages.
“Visited the construction of the residential complex «White Sands»… The first buildings — already in September 2026, and the entire complex — by April 2028”, — Saldo solemnly announced.
Well then, now a bit of arithmetic. 6 000 apartments divided by 18 buildings — we get 340 apartments in each. It looks like an ordinary nine-story building, except that it would have to have over ten entrances. Such architectural solutions are not very popular and are found only in large cities.
And now even more interesting. If one takes into account that the average Ukrainian family has three members, then about 20 thousand people would have to settle in “White Sands”. For comparison — in Skadovsk itself before the war only 16 thousand lived. Now – at least a third less. So, for all six thousand new apartments to receive their owners, Saldo would have to relocate the entire town, or even most of the Skadovsk community.
But who knows, maybe this is the “brilliant” idea of the occupiers — they are not building for the locals, but for the imported “SVO heroes” who are already being offered discounts in these concrete boxes. After all, there is no more logic in these plans than in Saldo himself. But, admit it, it sounds beautiful: six thousand apartments, a new life, “development”. Only for whom — that’s a rhetorical question. Because while Saldo paints castles in the air, in real Skadovsk emptiness and ruin prevail.
This material was prepared as part of a project supported by the NGO Institute of Mass Information and CzechAid