Users of such messengers as Telegram and Signal began to receive messages on behalf of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine that the Ukrainian authorities recommend that residents of Kharkiv evacuate from the city by April 22, 2024 due to its likely encirclement by Russian troops. In addition, these messages are accompanied by a reminder about what to do in case of evacuation.

In fact, the State Emergency Service stated that they did not send such messages to Ukrainians. The military leadership of Ukraine is constantly monitoring the situation and has not recorded any signs of Russia’s readiness to attack Kharkiv. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

The very messages about the evacuation from Kharkiv are informational stuffing aimed at destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, the State Emergency Service notes and urges not to trust dubious sources of information.

This is not the first time that disinformation about the “evacuation from Kharkiv” has been spread. Previously, we refuted the information that “panic sentiments allegedly prevail in Kharkiv - city residents are leaving en masse”, “Ukraine allegedly announced the deportation of Kharkiv residents, preparing it for defense”, or that “Kharkiv authorities are allegedly planning to flee the city”.