Меседж Children in Ukraine are forced to donate blood for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, photo evidence
Russian media have spread information that in Ukraine children's blood was allegedly forcibly taken for the needs of the army. At the same time, such propaganda materials note that this is done by the military themselves, or that this blood is collected for “foreign mercenaries”. The publications are accompanied by a photo of a guy who donated blood in an educational institution - school desks are visible in the background of the photo.
“There have already been cases in history when children's blood was used to support the health of Wehrmacht soldiers. And this practice was assessed during the Nuremberg Trials”, the propagandists write.
VoxCheck fact-checkers analyzed the case and determined that this photo was actually taken on Donor Day, which was held on August 22 in the Vinnytsia region. At that time, a blood collection point was indeed set up in a local lyceum, and the blood collection itself was carried out by a mobile team from the Vinnytsia regional blood service center with the help of local health workers.
A total of 80 people donated blood, local groups write that there were many more who wanted to, but not everyone was able to take part in this procedure due to health reasons. Many photographs from the West were published, among them readers can see the one used by agitprop, but not a single photo shows children, only adults are in line and donating blood.
Propagandists have been systematically spreading fakes and manipulations on the topic of an alleged blood shortage in Ukraine. In this way, the authors of the messages are trying to convince that everything is bad in Ukraine and that there are many wounded who are not receiving adequate care because “there is not enough blood”. We managed to refute several fakes on this topic. For example, one of the fakes said that Ukraine is banning all foreign citizens from becoming blood donors. We also checked the authenticity of a message on social networks about a Ukrainian woman abandoning her husband because he was “transfused with Russian blood”.