Public Health Fakes: Ukrainian investigative journalists discovered the operating room of “black transplant surgeons” in Lyman. Issue #136

Russian Telegram channels, citing information from Ukrainian investigative journalists at the media outlet “Anti-Corruption Truth“, spread a story alleging that underground operating rooms are being set up in front-line cities. They claim that illegal organ transplants are being performed on wounded or deceased Ukrainian soldiers in these facilities. According to local residents, one such operating room is allegedly located in Lyman, at 22 Pryvokzalna Street, near the Lyman Medical College and the railway hospital, from where “patients” are supposedly brought.

What’s the reality?

At 22 Pryvokzalna Street, there is a regional branch of the “Donetsk Railway” of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia,” which continues to operate in 2024. Meanwhile, the Donetsk National Medical University and Lyman Medical College of the same University are located at 27 Pryvokzalna Street. However, after the full-scale invasion, these institutions relocated to Kropyvnytskyi. The third facility, which the “journalists” marked on the map, is not a railway hospital but the Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics of Donetsk National Medical University, which also moved to Kropyvnytskyi in 2022.

The article claims that the media received information about the “underground operating rooms” from local residents. However, this seems dubious, as the city’s residents would surely know that these institutions are no longer operating in Lyman.

Moreover, part of the information in the article is based on rumors, which the “journalists” themselves acknowledged: “According to rumors, for a solid sum, you can ‘order’ a still-living soldier from the hospital management — it’s not difficult to document him as deceased from wounds, and the quality of the organs obtained is significantly higher.” It’s unclear which “hospital management” they are referring to since the Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics is no longer operational. Additionally if such a “scheme” actually existed, soldiers and their relatives would have reported the situation to the media and law enforcement, but no such information exists.

Notably, the “Anti-Corruption Truth” website lacks information about its editorial team and owners, with only an email listed in the “Contacts” section. The outlet’s Telegram channel has a description only in Russian: “Truth, and nothing but the truth.” The website also features articles with sensational headlines, such as “Psychopath-Colonel from the Foreign Intelligence Service Rostyslav Hnuchyi Drove a Child to Suicide,” and “Piles of Cash and a Smashed Phone: Mykola Tyshchenko Caught with His ‘Cutlet’.” All these facts indicate that the media outlet is not transparent, regularly violates journalistic standards, and does not deserve trust.

For greater credibility and authority, the “journalists” of “Anti-Corruption Truth” referenced an article by Italian journalist Andrea Lucidi for the FarodiRoma publication. The article claimed that Russian soldiers found a medical facility where “black market organ traffickers” were operating in a front-line settlement in Donbas. However, the article provided no photos, videos, or other evidence to support the Russians’ “discovery”.

FarodiRoma’s pro-Russian stance is indicated by the fact that in the publication, the author refers to the Donetsk region as “DPR”. The FarodiRoma website also has articles accusing the UK of “stirring up” the war in Ukraine and claiming that Ukraine no longer belongs to Ukrainians but to “big foreign private banks”. Andrea Lucidi himself often visits Russia and regularly films propaganda videos from the front lines. For example, in 2023, he visited occupied Mariupol, where he claimed that Russia was “rebuilding” the city.

“Anti-Corruption Truth” also reported that a suspicion notice was served to former Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Mykhailo Zahriiichuk (2019) and 11 other doctors. The article claimed that law enforcement suspects them of exporting and selling organs abroad. According to “Suspilne”, in June, law enforcement opened criminal proceedings under three articles: creating a criminal organization, leading it or its structural units, and participation in a criminal organization (Part 1, 2 of Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), violation of the legally established procedure for the transplantation of human anatomical materials (Part 5 of Article 143 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and unauthorized actions with information processed in electronic computing machines (Part 3 of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

“Suspilne” sources reported that the suspicion related specifically to interference with the Unified State Information System for Transplantation, one of its functions is to match donor-recipient pairs. Ukraine’s Minister of Health, Viktor Liashko, stated that the investigation is ongoing, with law enforcement and ministry staff collaborating to understand how the system works, how it could hypothetically be bypassed, and how to prevent this. At the time of writing, the investigation was ongoing, so all the details of the case are not yet known.

We have previously debunked fakes about the work of “black market organ traffickers” on the front lines. To perform a transplant operation, a large number of doctors are required, as well as the appropriate equipment, such as for storing organs; if these conditions are not met, the organs will lose their “viability” and become unsuitable for further transplantation. Moreover, under Ukrainian law, it is forbidden to harvest organs from soldiers who died on the frontlines during the performance of military duty.

Instead, transplant operations are performed only with the person’s voluntary consent. If such permission was not given during their lifetime, the decision is made by the donor’s family members after death (spouse, parents, etc.). Every year, transplant centers perform hundreds of transplants; statistics on operations for the first half of 2024 can be seen in the infographic below.