This “letter” has been forged, as evidenced by numerous gross errors in the text and vocabulary not typical of official documents. Specifically, the “letter” incorrectly states the addressee’s official position and the location of the cemetery for victims of World War II, and the surname of the secretary of the Zaporizhia city council is misspelled.
Some Russian media outlets and so-called Z-channels on Telegram are spreading a “document” in which the commander of Operational Command East, Oleh Mikats, allegedly addressed the administration of the city of Zaporizhia requesting an increase in the number of burial plots for Ukrainian servicemen on the eve of the Ukrainian forces’ counteroffensive. He also requests permission to bury “Polish volunteers” at the old cemetery of German prisoners of war.
This “document” is dated April 12, 2023, and is supposedly issued by Oleh Mikats, the commander of Operational Command East. The recipient of this letter is indicated as “Head of the City Administration of Zaporizhia Kurtiv A.V.”
The presence of numerous mistakes and inaccuracies in the text of the “document” indicates that it is nothing more than a forgery.
Let’s start with the fact that in this “document,” not only the recipient’s surname is misspelled, but also the position is incorrectly indicated. The fact is that currently Zaporizhia does not have a mayor and the duties of the city mayor are performed by the secretary of the Zaporizhia City Council until new elections take place. In 2021, the previously elected mayor, Volodymyr Buryak, submitted a resignation letter due to health reasons, and since then, his duties have been carried out by the secretary of the Zaporizhia City Council, Anatoliy Kurtiev. In the fake “document”, the recipient is mentioned as “head of the administration of the city of Zaporizhia Kurtiv A.V.” Most likely, it refers to Anatoliy Kurtiev, the secretary of the city council. Although Anatoliy Kurtiev temporarily performs the duties of the mayor, he is not the “head of the city administration.” In all official documents, he is referred to as the “secretary of the city council.”
The letter also contains many factual errors. For example, Major General Oleh Mikats allegedly addressed the city administration requesting additional burial plots for “Polish volunteers” at the old cemetery of German prisoners of war in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Zaporizhia Oblast. However, there is no Shevchenkivskyi district in Zaporizhia Oblast. Most likely, it refers to the Shevchenkivskyi district of Zaporizhia city, where the cemetery for the victims of World War II is actually located. Furthermore, the text mentions that the Polish volunteers supposedly serve in units of the Operational Command South, although the author of this “letter” is the command of a completely different military-land zone – the East.
In addition, the text contains vocabulary that is not typical of official documents, such as “counteroffensive” and “occupied Donbas.” We remind you that in Ukraine, there is a legislatively established correct name for these territories, which is “temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions” (and since August 2022, the term “temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine by the Russian Federation” has been introduced). Moreover, the sentence construction indicates that the authors of this forgery most likely used an online translator.
Previously, StopFake analyzed a forged “document” in which the commander of the 124th Territorial Defense Brigade of the Ukrainian Army allegedly “ordered the personnel to organize the protection of the M142 HIMARS missile complex on the outskirts of Kherson” and “shoot offenders on the spot” during curfew hours.
