Rubizhne in Luhansk oblast was fully occupied on May 13, 2022.The Russians captured part of the city two months earlier.Before the full-scale invasion, more than 50,000 people lived in the settlement.According to the head of the Raion State Administration Roman Vlasenko, it is more than the population in the entire Sievierodonetsk raion now. This year was the most difficult in the history of Rubizhne. The Russians actually turned it into a ghost city where only senior citizens live.
In February 2023, the occupiers left local residents without mobile network once again, and the Internet is available only to the “chosen ones” who work in the occupation administration. The residents are in an information vacuum there, and those who left cannot contact their relatives. It is possible to find out what is happening there only in social networks or messengers.
Russian propagandists and resources controlled by the Kremlin regularly show stories and reports in a favorable light for them.
TRYBUN has figured out what is wrong with them ( spoiler: everything).
On March 6, the Russian occupiers began their assault on the outskirts of Rubizhne. They managed to enter the city quite quickly, because the Ukrainian military decided to withdraw and take more advantageous positions.7, 8, 9 micro-raions, the “Spetskomendatury” raion, the center were under the control of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The demarcation line was running along the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Street. On March 17, the occupiers hung the “flag of the LPR” on the Rubizhne City Council.
Russian propagandists rushed to the city after the enemy army. All possible platforms were filled with dozens of publications where information was distorted. The main messages that were used when Rubizhne was occupied by half: terror of the civilian population by the Armed Forces and “foreign mercenaries”; “Residents of Rubizhne have been waiting for Russia for 8 years”; “life will get better soon.”
Let’s analyze some of them:
“TANK – GHOST”
Publication of the “EADaily” resource dated 04.12.22 claimed that half of the city was “burned by a ghost tank”.
The raion mentioned in the article was under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in March and the Russians shelled it. Eyewitnesses and information from open sources prove this fact.
After this area came under the control of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, videos that will never be shown on Russian federal channels appeared on the network. One of them show how the Kadyrivites, having fun, fired at a residential building on Korolenko Street.
Our editorial office also has footage taken by a local resident. The footage show that the Russians hid their equipment in residential yards, putting civilians at risk. The tanks were not “ghosts”, but real ones that fire.
AN ACTRESS WHO DOESN’T HAVE AN OSCAR
Of course, it was impossible to create propagandistic plots without invited actors.One of them managed to play the role of a local resident of Rubizhnе (March 2022), Kherson (May 2022) and Lysychansk (July 2022).
“AMERICANS HAVE COME”
Propaganda paid special attention to theforeign citizens participating in hostilities on the Ukrainian side. These people were called “NATO mercenaries”.
On February 27, the President of Ukraine VolodymyrZelenskyyannounced a new unit formation — “The International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine”.The basis for its formation was the Regulation on Military Service in the Armed Forces by Foreigners and Stateless Persons, approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine № 248 dated June 10, 2016.So, foreigners have the right to join the ranks of the Armed Forces for military service under a contract on a voluntary basis, including the ranks of the Territorial Defense Forces. That is, foreigners can legally serve in the ranks of the Armed Forces.
“PMC Wagner,” that is currently fighting on the territory of Ukraine and took part in the capture of Rubizhne, is an unofficial armed formation that the mass media call a “Russian private military company.”The group is not listed in law enforcement agencies and in the register of legal entities. Its fighters are not included in the official personnel lists.
Our article “Rubizhne – a city that became an outpost of Luhansk oblast” tells in details about situation in the city in February – March.
“THIS HOLIDAY”
The propagandists did not miss the traditional topic of “banning the celebration of May 9”, which perfectly fits into the paradigm of “the fight against Nazism”. Allegedly, no one officially celebrated the date for 8 years in Rubizhnе.This was accompanied by a statement from the mayor – collaborator SerhiiHortiv.
It’s easy enough to check the information if you search.On our website there is a report from the event organized by the local authorities on May 9, 2021.It is worth noting that Hortiv himself was present at the event.
On May 13, 2022, the defense forces left the territory of the city.Information about what is happening there has become less and less in the Ukrainian mass media, because it has become much more difficult to obtain it.
WHO DESTROYED RUBIZHNE?
After the complete occupation of Rubizhne, Russian propagandists tried in every possible way to justify the crimes of their army, accusing the Armed Forces of Ukraine of allegedly “destroying a part of the city during the withdrawal” and “continuing to deliberately destroy Rubizhne.”
For example, it is the destruction of the “Golden Agro” elevator.This topic was widely covered in the Russian media in June.
However, Planet Lab satellite images indicate that powerful Russian bombs were dropped on the territory of “GOLDEN AGRO” LLC in Rubizhne in April. Then the elevator complex, opened in 2020, was completely destroyed.
The occupiers used many different types of heavy weapons in the battles for the city and turned the part of Rubizhne into ruins.
According to Russian unofficial sources, the UR-77 “Meteorit” was used 17 times on the territory of Rubizhne.
The moment of strike from the “Snake Gorynych” on the Rubizhne Polytechnic College was captured on video.
The local residents who managed to survive also say that the Russians have fired civilian objects.
“Since March 6, 2022, my family and I have been hiding and living in the shelter of the first school.Since March 9, there was neither electricity nor water.From March 10, shells started hitting the school grounds and our yards.My house was hit for the first time three days after that. I came under mortar fire quite often as I ran back and forth from school to my still undamaged apartment to bring water from the supplies.I personally saw and heard where it was flying from.Fire was directed at us from the 7th and 8th microraions.At that time, that part of the city was controlled by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and the tricolor hung on the executive committee.Only civilians were in the school all this time: senior citizens, children, people affected by fires.I did not meet any military man. There were only civilians’ bodies on the streets,” a resident of Rubizhne says.
In order to confirm his words, the man provided a photo taken in March on the territory of the educational institution.
“BIOLABORATORIES”
Of course, there were also classic fakes about biolaboratories. In Rubizhne, the occupiers identified the Pharmbiotest clinical diagnostic center and the “Mikrokhim” pharmaceutical company as such.
“Mikrokhim” told their colleagues from “Realnaya Gazeta” off the record that they see no point in refuting it.Indeed, for those who trust “Russia 1”, the refutations would be proof that “everything is like that”.To those who do not believe, everything is clear.And how should a refutation be submitted – the company’s word against the words of Kremlin propagandists?
Read the material of Real Gazeta “Human experiments and organ trade in Rubizhnye: the anatomy of a fake” at the link.
“NOW WE WILL LIVE EVEN BETTER”…BUT WHO KNOWS
Russian troops have been on the territory of Rubizhne for more than a year. The city faced a lot – shelling, looting and robbery, kidnapping and killings of the unwanted, a humanitarian crisis.This list is endlessly. The process of analyzing fakes and disinformation spread by the aggressor country is also endless.
The only thing that did not happen is the promised recovery, which propaganda resources have been trumpeting all these months.
People, as before, are forced to repair damaged residendial buildings on their own, stand in queues for a humanitarian aid, and even cash payments from the occupiers are not available to them. The Ukrainian, as well as Russian, media are reporting about it. However, in their publications there is not a single word about who is really to blame for this. Propagandits also don’t tell about the fact that today a once cozy and calm city in Luhansk oblast has become just another military base, where no one cares about its residents, who “survived for something”.
I told the publication “Svoi” how propaganda works in the conditions of this phase of the war and at whom it is aimed.
You can find more information about the situation in Rubizhne and Luhansk oblast in my Telegram channel
