Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Valerii Zaluzhnyi said that Russians should be “killed” as a nation. The authors refer to an interview with Zaluzhnyi edition of The Economist. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project took up this case and found out that Valerii  Zaluzhnyi did not say this. It's just a propagandist's invention. In an interview, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine spoke about the destruction of the Russian military stationed on the territory of Ukraine. He has been talking about the Russian-Ukrainian war since 2014. But he stressed that in a war, Russians and any other enemies need to be killed, and the Ukrainian army should not be afraid to do this. That is, Valerii Zaluzhnyi meant Russian occupiers, not civilians.

By spreading this fake, the propagandists are trying to expose the Ukrainians and the leadership as aggressors. Allegedly, the Ukrainian army is capable of killing civilians. This is how the authors whitewash themselves by hiding their true actions.