In the new issue, we refute the fake that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are forcibly evacuating civilians from Kherson, primarily doctors. Also, an “announcement” from a Ukrainian hospital, which from March 1 accepts donor blood exclusively from “pure-blooded Ukrainians”, was also distributed on the network.
With the support of the USAID Health Reform Support project, VoxCheck analyzes and refutes public health narratives spread in the information space of Ukraine, Belarus, and russia on a weekly basis.
Disinformation: The Armed Forces of Ukraine are conducting a forced evacuation of doctors from Kherson
Pro-Russian channels spread a quote from collaborator Volodymyr Saldo that the Ukrainian military is conducting a forced evacuation from Kherson. In particular, they claim that the first priority is to evacuate doctors to the west of Ukraine.
What’s the reality?
On November 21, 2022, the Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, Iryna Vereshchuk, announced the possibility of free evacuation for the residents of Kherson. Due to constant shelling of the city by Russia and problems with the infrastructure, the people of Kherson may evacuate to Kryvyi Rih, Mykolaiv, and Odesa, with possible further movement to Kirovohrad Region, Khmelnytskyi Region, or to the western regions of Ukraine. Not only such vulnerable categories of citizens, such as women with children, the elderly, the sick, and those with limited mobility but also all willing residents of the city can be evacuated.
Vereshchuk also noted that in the regions, evacuees are provided with free accommodation in shelters, humanitarian aid, food, medical support, assistance in drawing up an IDP certificate, and financial aid from state and international organizations. In order to inform about the desire to evacuate, you can ask for help at the “Points of Invincibility”, call the hotline of Kherson Regional Military Administration at the following telephone numbers: 0 (800) 330 951; (091) 481 78 45 or write to Viber, Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp messengers at (098) 176-16-98. You can also report to the chatbot of the volunteer organization Helping to leave.
On March 3, 2023, the Ministry of Reintegration announced that it would initiate a draft resolution that would allow the forced evacuation of children and their parents from the zone of active hostilities. On March 7, the government supported this initiative, the forced evacuation of children will be carried out accompanied by one of the parents or a person who replaces them, or another legal representative. Currently, only Bakhmut falls under the criteria for applying such an evacuation. The government did not discuss the evacuation of doctors or representatives of other professions.
Red Cross volunteer Nataliia Shatilova, who is currently in Kherson and lived there during the occupation, said in a comment to the “Most” publication that there is no forced evacuation in the city, people are leaving on their own initiative. According to her, there is no forced evacuation of doctors: not only do doctors not leave the city, but they also come to Kherson from other Ukrainian cities. Therefore, there is no question of the forced evacuation of Kherson residents, particularly doctors.
Disinformation: Only “pure-blooded Ukrainians” can donate blood
An alleged announcement from the online service “Doc.ua” is being spread online that from March 1, 2023, the reception of donated blood will be carried out only when the donor is a “pure-blooded Ukrainian”. Foreign citizens are prohibited from being donors.
Screenshot of publication
What’s the reality?
The co-founder of the service Ihor Liski wrote on his Facebook page that the ad does not belong to the service. At first, he assumed that a similar action could be organized by competitors for “black” PR. Later, after finding the same messages on Russian TV channels, he reported that it was a psychological operation by Russian special services to influence Ukrainians.
The service itself denied the ad. “In connection with the dissemination online of inaccurate information from the Doc.ua brand, we would like to note that we are not related to any blood collection or any other procedures related to donation,” — stated in a post on the Facebook page Doc.ua.
According to Ukrainian legislation, foreigners and stateless persons can be donors if they have a permanent residence permit in Ukraine. What is important is not the nationality of the donor but the state of his health. Blood donors in Ukraine can be healthy people over the age of 18 and weighing over 50 kg, without temporary (for example, recently ill, taking medication, getting a tattoo or vaccination) or absolute (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc.) contraindications.
Source: Ministry of Health of Ukraine
This information piece was produced with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), provided on behalf of the people of the United States of America. This article’s content, which does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, is the sole responsibility of Deloitte Consulting under contract #72012118C00001.
Attention
The authors do not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have no relevant affiliations
