Such information is disseminated in pro-Kremlin propaganda media and on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. Reports say last week Ukrainian refugees allegedly burned down a historic 400-year-old hotel in Midhurst, West Sussex, England. Like, the Ukrainians are criminals, and if it had not been for them, the building would have survived. It is not true.

The fire on North Street in Midhurst did indeed occur on March 16, and it did not only affect the Angel Inn, which the propagandists write about. Ukrainian refugees also really lived in a hotel. According to local authorities, 30 people were evacuated from the hotel due to the fire, including “several” Ukrainian refugees. However, claims that it was the Ukrainians who set the fire are unfounded.

The fact checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case. They found out that local media wrote that the fire first started in the early morning in a nearby house on North Street, and only then spread to the roof of the nearby Angel Inn. “But not only this fact, but also the preliminary findings of the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service do not confirm any involvement of Ukrainian refugees in the fire”. A spokesman for the fire service told the BBC: “Preliminary investigations indicate that there are no suspicious circumstances associated with this fire, but our investigation is ongoing”, the fact-checkers wrote.

This is not the first fake of Russian propaganda about “bad” Ukrainian refugees. For example, propagandists have already claimed that Ukrainians burned a forest in Germany. By spreading such fakes, propaganda wants to create for Ukrainian refugees the image of criminals who can, for example, set fire to the house they live in. This is how propagandists try to convince the audience that Ukrainians should not be supported. Read more about disinformation regarding Ukrainian refugees in the Detector Media investigation.