Russia spreads fake news claiming Ukrainian soldiers are looting in border areas of Sumy region

Russian media outlets, Telegram channels, and bots on the social media platform X are circulating what appears to be a screenshot of a headline from a regional online publication in the Sumy region. The headline falsely claims that incidents of looting by Ukrainian military personnel have increased in border communities of the region.

This claim is fake. The article published by the outlet Sumski Debaty was titled "Looting incidents increase in border areas of the Sumy region." There is no mention — either in the headline or the text — of Ukrainian military involvement in these crimes.

Moreover, Sumski Debaty cited Kordon.Media, the original source of the story, which featured testimonies from residents of border communities in the Sumy region about looting in their homes. However, that article also makes no mention of Ukrainian military personnel being involved.

This disinformation effort is part of Russia's ongoing attempt to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces by falsely accusing them of criminal acts.

Ironically, confirmed cases of looting by Russian soldiers on Russian territory have been reported. For example, former Russian Transport Minister and ex-Governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, acknowledged incidents of looting by Russian troops in villages of the Glushkovo district in the Kursk region.

Ukrinform reported earlier that Russian propaganda had circulated fake ads promoting the "18-24" and "60+" military contracts.

Andriy Olenin