Russian propaganda media have been spreading information about this for several days in a row. Reports say that the Russian army in Mariupol "freed Turkish hostages from Ukrainian captivity" in a mosque in Mariupol. it is reported that the "special operation to rescue Turkish citizens" was carried out at the personal request of Turkish President Erdogan, who asked Russian authorities "to release people held by militants in the building of the mosque.

According to StopFake, the mosque in question is that of Sultan Suleyman Magnificent and his wife Roksolana in Mariupol, which in March served as a shelter for Turkish citizens and Muslims of other nationalities from Russian shelling.

Fact checkers note that the head of the Suleyman Magnificent Mosque Association, Ismail Hacioğlu, denied Russian statements about "rescuing Turkish citizens from Ukrainian captivity." According to him, there were no Turkish citizens in the Mariupol mosque and there was no one to "rescue" there. "Hacioğlu also said that a total of 24 Turkish citizens with their families are in the city, all of whom have been held in temporarily Russian-occupied areas of Mariupol for more than four weeks," writes StopFake.