Russian propaganda claimed that on September 4, 2025, a ballistic missile strike hit an industrial facility in Chernihiv. In reality, the target of the attack was neither an industrial nor a military site, but an international humanitarian demining mission. The fake was exposed by StopFake.

At around 14:55, Russian forces launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile at an area near a checkpoint at the entrance to the village of Novoselivka outside Chernihiv. As a result of the strike, employees of the international humanitarian organization the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), who were carrying out demining operations to restore access to infrastructure, agricultural land, and residential buildings, were injured. Two people were killed and eight others were wounded.

Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets described the attack as a gross violation of international humanitarian law. The DRC stressed that “humanitarian workers should never be targeted while carrying out life-saving work”. Deputy Minister of Economy Ihor Bezkaravainyi confirmed that this was the first recorded case of a missile strike directly hitting a humanitarian mission during its operations.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the strike evidence of the Kremlin’s unwillingness to end the war.

The attack on the humanitarian mission was yet another episode in Russia’s systematic strikes on civilian targets. The Kremlin regularly attacks hospitals, schools, and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and then spreads disinformation in an attempt to justify its war crimes.