Last November scores of Russian media reported that a Ukrainian army tank crushed a civilian car with three passengers in southeastern Ukraine. The source for this fake story was deputy defense minister and defense spokesman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Eduard Basurin.
According to Basurin during the night of November 5-6 drunken Ukrainian soldiers stole a tank and drove it to Zoria, outside Mariupol, where they struck a civilian car, crushing three passengers to death.
The residents of the town however could not confirm such an incident had taken place and the local police called the event fabricated.
Victoria Tsololo, director of the local town school located in central Zoria also denied such an event had taken place: “This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing” she said.
It is highly unlikely that a tank crushed a car with three passengers in the center of town and no one noticed. No photographs have been found of the alleged accident, there is no mention of such an incident in social media and OSCE monitors have not recorded such an event in their daily reports.
It would appear that Mr. Basurin simply lied.
