Pro-Kremlin operation weaponises investigative media to claim Ukraine uses orphans to clear mines

Disinformation circulating on social media platforms falsely accuses the Ukrainian government of using vulnerable groups — such as orphans, people with disabilities and elderly civilians — to clear dangerous landmines.

Perhaps most shockingly, the false claims are attributed to renowned investigative media outlet Bellingcat and their journalist, Galen Reich.

A video circulating online, which EuroVerify estimates has been viewed over 10 million times on X alone, claims Bellingcat confirmed their purported "revelations" using satellite imagery that showed Ukrainian civilians in mined areas of Ukraine.

The video also includes a screenshot of a Bellingcat article which allegedly recounts the investigation.

The article in question does exist, but in fact tells the story of workers from the Halo Trust, an NGO that clears landmines and other explosive devices from conflict areas.

Responding to an enquiry by Euroverify, Bellingcat said that "this is not based on the work of Bellingcat or Galen Reich."

The fake video also claims Reich interviewed the director of Age Concern Ukraine — an NGO which supports vulnerable elderly people in Ukraine — Galyna Polyakova, who purportedly accused the Kyiv government of taking vulnerable people to landmines from hospital wards.

Polyakova told Euronews that the video is a "lie", adding that she had "never given an interview to any Bellingcat journalist."

There is no truth behind these claims, and the propagandists have weaponised investigative journalists and professionals such as Polyakova in their operations.

The video bears the tell-tale signs of Russian influence operations, and has been shared by known disinformation actors.

Links to Prigozhin's R-FBI

The video also carries the logo of Foundation to Battle Injustice (R-FBI), a group founded in 2021 by Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash in 2023, two months after he led a failed mutiny against Russia's military leadership.

R-FBI — which has been sanctioned by the European Union — was set up to document so-called human rights violations and injustices committed by the West, but has been involved in several targeted disinformation campaigns against Ukraine and the West.

Since Prigozhin's death, R-FBI has been managed by Oksana Vovk, who now operates under the name Mira Terada, and who was previously imprisoned in the US for money laundering.

The group also amplifies the activities of Storm-1516, a highly successful pro-Russian disinformation operation that discredits Ukraine and aims to undermine the stability and democracy in Europe and the West

Other campaigns orchestrated by R-FBI include unfounded claims that the German government is planning to legalise paedophilia.

The group is known to have recruited so-called "influencers" that amplify their fake reports.