Ukraine says Russia spread “fake” warning of massive looming airstrike, adding to fears
Ukraine said Russia had staged an “information and psychological attack” by spreading a fake warning of a massive air attack on Kyiv, purporting to be from Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence.
The warning came after the US Embassy in Kyiv said it had received “information of a potential significant air attack” and announced it would close Wednesday. The Greek, Spanish and Italian embassies also closed temporarily.
In a Telegram post Wednesday, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said a message “about the threat of a ‘particularly massive’ missile and bomb attack on Ukrainian cities” had been spread online, appearing to pile on to existing fears based on US intelligence.
“This message is fake and contains grammatical errors typical of Russian information and psychological operations,” the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence said.
The US Embassy in Kyiv said it was closing Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution.”
A US official told CNN the standards for the credibility of threat information are lower in a heightened threat environment like Ukraine, particularly if the threat is imminent.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry addressed the embassy closures and appeared to downplay concerns of Wednesday’s strikes being out of the ordinary, warning that Russian misinformation may try to fuel some of the anxieties.
“The threat of shelling by the aggressor state has unfortunately been a daily reality for Ukrainians for over 1,000 days,” it said.
The Foreign Ministry urged residents not to ignore air raid warnings, which sounded in Kyiv several times overnight into Wednesday, as Russia continues to pummel Ukrainian cities with airstrikes.
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