It was a Russian munition that fell on the village of Petropavlivka in the Voronezh region, not a Ukrainian missile. The Russian Defense Ministry announced the emergency landing of ammunition from the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces. According to public reports, 11 people, including 3 children, died as a result of this strike. 21 more people were injured. On January 2, 2024, Russia launched the biggest missile attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Social networks and Russian websites widely spread information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly struck the village of Petropavlivka in the Voronezh region on the morning of January 2, 2024. “The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked the Voronezh region, half of the streets in the village were destroyed. (…) Huge craters were left on the ground — the Kyiv regime targeted an ordinary civilian village where people were resting on holidays,” the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Readovka reported. Propagandist Olga Skabeyeva also wrote in her Telegram channel that “the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out a terrorist attack on the Voronezh region.” Russian residents shared multiple videos showing destroyed houses and a large eruption from the ammunition landing.
In fact, a Russian missile fell on the village of Petropavlivka. It was launched by the Russian army in the morning of January 2 during a massive shelling of Ukraine. So, it was not Kyiv but Moscow who carried out another terrorist attack not only on the residents of Ukraine, but its own citizens as well.
Despite accusing the Armed Forces of terrorizing civilians, by noon Russian propagandists were already forced to admit that their own missile, which was on its way to bomb a neighboring country, had fallen on a village in the Voronezh region. First, the Voronezh region governor Oleksandr Gusev and soon the Russian Defense Minister announced that there was an “emergency discharge of ammunition” over the settlement.
“As it became known, on January 2, around 9:00 Moscow time, during a flight from an Air-Space Force aircraft, an unscheduled descent of aviation ammunition took place over a populated place. There were no victims and the incident is currently being investigated,” Lenta.ru writes.
After the Russian Defense Minister recognized the unplanned landing of its own ammunition, Russian propagandists and media personalities began to delete and edit their previous posts with bitter accusations towards the Armed Forces. However, judging by the tone of the already edited messages, the attack on Petropavlivka turned out not to be such a terrible “terrorist act” as previously reported. According to Russian logic, its own missile destroys houses and kills people in a much more “friendly” way than a Ukrainian missile would.
According to one of the pro-Kremlin Telegram-channels, Petropavlivka was still not without victims. As a result of the strike, 11 people died, including three children. Another 21 people were injured. Russian state media traditionally keep it quiet. “According to preliminary data, the X-101 missile of improved modification did not reach Ukraine and fell. The type of missile is still being specified. Tell me, is it normal that our missiles kill our people?”, the authors ask rhetorically. The fact that Russian missiles are constantly killing Ukrainians seems absolutely acceptable and even desirable to Russian citizens.
StopFake continues to refute similar fakes in the stories Fake: Germany Prepares to Launch War on Russia, Fake: UK and Norway Escalating Tension in the Black Sea, Fake: 75% of Ukrainians Watched Putin’s Press Conference, Says Gallup Research Group.
