Anonymous telegram channels and Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric report that Russian Defense Minister Serhii Shoihu said in an interview that “if the United States supplies Ukraine with cluster munitions, the Armed Forces of Russian Federation will be forced to use similar weapons”. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications investigated this case. In May 2022, the human rights organization Human Rights Watch published a report stating that the Russians use at least 6 types of cluster munitions in Ukraine. Russia bombarded Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia and other cities with them. On April 8, 2022, the Russians used a Tochka-U ballistic missile with a cluster warhead and struck it at the Kramatorsk railway station. Then 54 adults and 7 children died.

Thus, Russian propagandists transfer responsibility for Russia's crimes to Ukraine and expose themselves as a constant victim of “aggression”. Like, Ukraine attacks first, so Russia will have to use cluster munitions in return. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the message that Ukraine is making fake attacks on nuclear facilities in order to discredit Russian troops.