Russian propagandists spread “news” from the temporarily occupied Kupiansk, Kharkiv region. Allegedly, the townspeople are happy with the arrival of Russians in their city. This is not true.

As the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center writes, the picture for the Russian media is created by the Russians themselves. Fact-checkers identified the participants in the celebrations. From their reports, we came to the conclusion that more than 700 volunteers of the Young Guard of United Russia have already taken part in regular trips to the occupied territory of Ukraine. Volunteer camps are rotated once every two weeks, more than 100 volunteers are there all the time. It is they who create the picture for the Russian media. One of the “volunteers” in a message on social networks says that “Kupiansk is the capital of the Kharkiv region until Kharkiv is liberated.”

In a shared photograph taken on August 22 in Kupiansk, there is also the curator of the so-called "humanitarian centers" that the political party "United Russia" opened in the occupied territories of the Kharkiv region, Russian Oleksandr Meshchaninov, using the pseudonym "Alexander Kulikov". The photo also shows the deputy of the Nenets Autonomous region from the "United Russia" Andrey Popov. In fact, according to such reports, it is impossible to assess how massively the citizens who remained in the occupation took part in the “celebration”.

This is not the first time propagandists have used this tactic. Its goal is to convince Ukrainians that the inhabitants of the occupied territories are traitors. But those who remained in the occupation for various reasons are convinced that they are not needed in Ukraine. Earlier, propagandists spread similar messages about the celebration of Metallurgist's Day in temporarily occupied Mariupol. The invaders also distribute propaganda films “Mariupol: Chronicles of a Russian City” and “Russian Kherson. We've been waiting for this for 30 years.”