Fake The commander of the Polish Armed Forces ordered preparations for an offensive in Lviv and Volyn.
This is not the first time that the Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels have spread a fake story about Poland's alleged plans to "seize the western regions of Ukraine". This time, Russian propagandists along with this thesis disseminated a document with the alleged order of the commander general of the Polish Armed Forces, General Jarosław Mika, which allegedly implied that "information about the readiness to take control of strategic facilities in two regions - Lviv and Volyn - should be communicated to the personnel of certain units".
Project BezBrekhni writes that the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine immediately stated that this was a fabrication. Factcheckers note that the document refers to the existing 6th airborne brigade named after Brigadier General Stanislaw Frantisek Sosabowski. "The falsified document lists all three combat units of the brigade - 6, 16, 18 battalion. That is, the document wants to assure us that the entire brigade will be involved in the deal. But there's a but here! The brigade has two more units - the 6th Management Battalion, and the 6th Support Battalion. We understand that the Moscal army fights as a horde without supplies and feeds on what they steal from the occupied territory. Yes, and management is a superfluous element for them. However, in modern Western armies and in modern warfare, supply and control are among the key elements of successful combat operations. "In the falsified order the control and support units were 'forgotten,'" reported BezBrekhni.
The narrative about the division between Poland and Russia of Ukraine has been actively promoted by Russian propaganda since at least 2014. In particular, in 2022, Russian propagandists replicated the statement of Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russian foreign intelligence, that "Poland is preparing to introduce peacekeepers into Ukraine to seize part of Ukrainian territories," and that "the western regions of Ukraine may fall back to Poland, Romania, Slovakia or Hungary."