On Thursday, there was an incident in Ukraine’s information policy in which Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maljar falsely announced the capture of the heavily contested town of Andriivka.
Shortly after, the unit on the ground refuted the statement about the liberation of the city. In the morning, Deputy Minister of Defense Maljar again announced the capture, referring to an official confirmation of the General Staff, which she published on Telegram. This reported the German news platform n-tv.de. She wrote: “In its report of this morning on yesterday, the General Staff officially confirmed that our troops captured Andriivka in the course of yesterday’s fighting.”
Addressing criticism of her previous early announcement, she added, “It was difficult and the situation changed very dynamically several times yesterday.”
This information has not yet been verified/confirmed by an independent source. For this reason, the report should be evaluated with reservations. In war, it can be advantageous for parties to make false statements about the course of the conflict in order to strengthen their own position or weaken the position of the opponent.
Image: Dpsu.gov.ua, Bakhmut during the battle (2023-04-05), frame 15989, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)
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