On November 25 Russian state newswire “RIA Novosti”, quoting their own correspondent, ran urgent news that Ukrainian military “opened massive artillery fire, shelling residential areas of Donetsk”.
The news was quickly picked up by many major Russian news outlets and spread all over the Internet. The fact is this piece of news is absolute bold-faced lies. Local media in Donetsk has no mention of the shelling and separatist leaders deny any escalation at the frontline.
This piece of news, or rather, disinformation, came immediately after Russian warships rammed and opened fire at Ukrainian Navy vessels in the Black Sea, wounding six Ukrainian servicemen. Ukraine is set to introduce Martial Law.
It’s clear that Russians want to divert attention, but such “news” coming from a state newswire can easily spark a full-fledged war in Eastern Ukraine.