Russians create hoax of Zelenskyy's alleged attempt on Macron, Ukraine's intelligence debunks fake
Andrii Yusov, representative of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (Photo: Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Russian propagandists accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of attempting to assassinate French President Emmanuel Macron. This information is another deception by the enemy, states a representative of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andrii Yusov in a comment to RBC-Ukraine.
Russian fake news
Recently, the website of the Russian newspaper Izvestia wrote about an alleged attempt on Macron. The newspaper reported that it was "prepared by Zelenskyy, and the operation was supervised by the head of the Defense Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov. However, "the attempt was prevented" by the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
Propagandists cited a video of very poor quality from the television. Due to the poor quality, it was technically impossible to confirm whether this was not a deepfake.
After this misinformation, some Russian websites began independently spreading refutations with reference to the France 24 channel.
Reaction of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine
Reacting to this misinformation, Yusov notes that this is another Russian special operation and an information attack against Ukraine. Thus, the enemy seeks to implement its so-called Maidan-3 plan to discredit Ukraine on the international stage and destabilize the situation within the country.
According to the representative of military intelligence, there are currently a number of important events regarding the continuation of assistance to Ukraine and strengthening the anti-Putin coalition. Therefore, the Russian Federation is resorting to such dirty and fake stories.
He adds that similar attacks will continue, particularly against individual Ukrainian officials and military-political leadership.
"Regarding this specific misinformation about Macron. This is a complete lie. Shamelessly, Western media is used as the primary source, and then Russian garbage, including state channels, picks it up," Yusov emphasizes.
Background
French President Emmanuel Macron announced last month that he would visit Ukraine in February.
But a few days ago, French media reported that the president postponed his visit for security reasons.
Journalists did not provide more detailed reasons for this decision.
