This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that a shipment of humanitarian medical aid, namely anesthesia drugs, was allegedly delivered to Ukraine; their expiration date has supposedly expired. The authors of the reports claim that due to the use of expired drugs, “in one day in Dnipro, 12 people died after anesthesia”. And in Kharkiv, five deaths seem to have been registered as a result of using the drug.

Analysts from the StopFake project took up the case and explained: the authors of the fake publication did not provide any confirmation regarding the information about the expired batch of humanitarian aid medicines. However, experts suggest that the basis for creating this stuff was the situation in Dnipro, when in one of the clinics, after planned operations, 11 patients ended up in intensive care. According to the regional prosecutor's office, one of the patients, an 11-year-old boy, died. The State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drug Control then reported that patients suffered a severe adverse reaction to medications used during surgical interventions. Doctors were unable to save two patients.

However, this case has nothing to do with the import of low-quality medicines into Ukraine through humanitarian aid. The civil service has temporarily banned the sale and use of several batches of medications that are likely to have caused severe adverse reactions during operations. The pre-trial investigation is currently ongoing.

By speculating on this situation, propagandists seek to demonstrate that in Ukraine as a state, supposedly, no one is interested and even partner countries are ready to supply expired medicines. At the same time, the authors hint at the contrived inability of the Ukrainian healthcare system to conduct audits of supplied medicinal products. After all, this is how the Kremlin’s henchmen nurture mistrust of Ukraine among consumers of disinformation.

Read our other documented case: Ukrainian soldiers allegedly suffer from HIV en masse because they are offered free testing.