Russian propagandists are spreading information that the heart of a 31-year-old German mercenary who served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was killed by Russians is allegedly being sold on the darknet. The price of such an organ is 70 thousand dollars. The propagandists add that the organ is in good condition and is sold exclusively to Germans. A screenshot of the ad from the darknet is added as “proof”.

In fact, this information is not true - the photo with the ad was faked. This is reported by the VoxCheck project. ​​The photo is not of a heart, but of the powerful drug opium.  Earlier some sites published the original ad for its sale in an article about illegal things posted on the darknet.

In this fake, the Russians combined two narratives at once - about “black transplantologists” and so-called mercenaries. Thus, they wanted to claim that foreign soldiers in Ukraine are treated as “cannon fodder”, and then “sold” for organs. The goal is to undermine foreigners' trust in Ukraine and reduce their support.

The pro-Russian segment of the Internet is spreading information that Ukrainian doctors allegedly removed a healthy kidney from a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who was wounded near Sudzha as a result of a Russian drone attack. In claiming this, the propagandists refer to a message on Facebook from the Ukrainian soldier's “girlfriend”, who announced a collection for the man's rehabilitation and allegedly reported that he “no longer has a kidney”.

However, the information about the removal of the Ukrainian soldier's kidney is not true - the propagandists edited the original message of a Facebook user under the nickname Victoria Pendeliuk. The woman did announce a collection for the rehabilitation of the man, but did not report the disappearance of his kidney. So, if one looks at the screenshot of Victoria Pendeliuk's message, which is being distributed by propagandists, and the real message, one will notice that the original publication does not contain the words “and he no longer has a kidney”.

On Facebook, it would be noticeable if the post had been edited. In this case, when you click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the post, the option “View edit history” appears. Some of the posts by Facebook user Victoria Pendeliuk were indeed edited after publication, but no changes were made to the post announcing a fundraiser for the man's rehabilitation. Accordingly, the option “View edit history” is not displayed on it.

After all, Facebook user Victoria Pendeliuk is in fact the wife, not the girlfriend, of the wounded Ukrainian serviceman, and she has already managed to publish a new message refuting the “news” about her husband’s “disappearance of a kidney”.

This fake is intended to feed the Russian narrative about the alleged flourishing of black transplantology in Ukraine. They say that black transplantologists are profiting from the war in Ukraine. We have previously analyzed a number of fakes on this topic. For example, we wrote about disinformation that the heart of a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier is allegedly being sold on the darknet for 70 thousand dollars.