Detox. No, buildings are not destroyed for fakes in Ukraine.

Where does the intox come from?

Published on February 24, the tweet of the American conspirator Stew Peters reached the delusional figure of 4.5 million views. Its purpose? Taking a video of the Ukrainian government which, in the manner of the before/after, reveals the restoration of buildings destroyed during the war, Stew Peters affirms: “Seriously, this whole war is 100% FALSE!” A way of asserting that the damage was staged. And therefore, that the bombings never took place. More precisely, in a second tweetthe conspirator focuses on the photo of an identically rebuilt building and repeats: “This war is FALSE!”

Why is this wrong?

The building in question, a tower located on Lobanovsky Street in Kyiv, was indeed gutted by a strike. A bombardment on February 26, the third day of the war, which was documented and verified at the time by the New York Times. The building was then rebuilt. Last December, the mayor of Kyiv visited the site to see the progress of the work. In February, an adviser to the mayor shared the result on his Facebook page. It is this photo that was taken over by the conspirators.

Do the latter really believe that the war in Ukraine did not take place? In reality, this is a case of “rage-farming”, underlines a researcher in military history. A technique aimed at causing indignation and anger on social networks, in order to generate commitment, to be known… and to gain new subscribers. Mission successful for the conspirators, given the virality of these publications.