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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
22 October, at the initiative of the Russian delegation at the negotiations in Vienna “on security and arms control,” together with the so‑called “ambassador for special assignments” of the Russian Foreign Ministry, traitor to Ukraine Rodion Miroshnyk, an “international teleconference” called “Zaporizhzhia region: escalation of a terrorist war” took place.
The event was actively broadcast by Rossotrudnichestvo units in various countries. The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (HUR) notified in advance about the manipulative event, its participants, and the organizers’ objectives.
HUR is confident: the Russians’ goal was obvious — to distract attention with fabricated informational fakes and to hide their own real crimes on temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories over almost five years of full‑scale war.
Who is Rodion Miroshnyk?
Once upon a time 20 years ago he was the press secretary for then‑Prime Minister of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych — Rodion Miroshnyk. Later — a deputy of the Luhansk Regional Council from the Party of Regions and head of the Luhansk Regional State Television and Radio Company. Miroshnyk “loved Ukraine” so much that in 2012 during a regional council session discussing the Law on Languages he declared: “children who study in Ukrainian are ‘underdeveloped’.”
After Russia occupied Ukrainian Crimea and unleashed war in Donbas, Miroshnyk quickly sided with the occupiers, organized so‑called elections in the terrorist “LPR,” and even became the “official representative” of that quasi‑entity in the talks of the “Contact Group on Peaceful Settlement in Eastern Ukraine.” He was an adviser to one of the LPR leaders, Leonid Pasechnik, on “external relations.”
Rodion Miroshnyk
After Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine, Rodion Miroshnyk was appointed the “ambassador” of the terrorist “LPR” to the Russian Federation.
Already in Russia in August 2023 he received the status of “ambassador for special assignments of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the ‘crimes’ of the ‘Kyiv regime.’” In this capacity he became a regular participant in Vladimir Solovyov’s talk shows and other Russian media scoundrels.
For similar actions nine years ago the Luhansk regional prosecutor’s office declared the “DPR ambassador” wanted. He is accused under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (assistance in overthrowing the constitutional order and seizure of state power), Article 110 (alteration of borders, territory, and state boundary), and Articles 258–3 (participation in the activity of a terrorist organization). The penalty — up to life imprisonment.
In January 2023 Miroshnyk was added to Ukraine’s sanctions list. In June 2024 the European Union imposed personal sanctions against him.
What did HUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine know in advance about the Russians’ information special operation?
“The aggressor state Russia has prepared and is implementing another information operation aimed at concealing the war crimes it committed, as well as discrediting the Defense Forces of Ukraine in order to weaken our state’s support from foreign partners…
The target audience of the ‘teleconference’ was identified by the Russians as the diplomatic corps of the UN, OSCE, BRICS and CIS countries, as well as representatives of international humanitarian organizations,” Ukrainian intelligence informed a few days before the “teleconference.”
Among the announced participants were propagandists from Russia Today, representatives of Russian embassies, as well as “Russian Houses” and Rossotrudnichestvo branches in Zambia, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Mongolia, Malaysia, and Armenia.
“The pretext for the Kremlin’s information operation was the need to distract attention from Russia’s war crimes, in particular from the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Oleshky, Kherson region, caused by Russian occupiers.
Another reason was the strengthening of support for Ukraine from European partners, in particular the European Council’s approval of a loan for 90 billion euros and the creation of an EU‑Ukraine alliance in the field of UAVs,” Ukrainian intelligence informed citizens and our partners abroad about the enemy’s plans.
How did the teleconference itself proceed?
As shown by the photo report posted on the Telegram channel of Miroshnyk himself, the Foreign Ministry’s “ambassador for special assignments,” the teleconference looked like an extremely boring spectacle. The announced Gauleiter of the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region, traitor and regional Party of Regions member Yevhen Balytskyi, did not even show up for the Zoom event.
Instead, there were “present” the occupation director of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Yurii Chernychuk, acting “minister of energy” of the occupation administration of Zaporizhzhia region Yevhen Paramonov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, head of the occupation administration of Enerhodar Maksym Pukhov, military experts, and planted “direct witnesses, participants and ‘victims’ of ‘armed attacks,’” Miroshnyk wrote on his Telegram channel.
Participants of the “teleconference”
The footage also shows groups of people sitting in Rossotrudnichestvo offices (de facto branches of Russian special services) in several foreign countries. FSB faces and portraits of Putin on the office walls.
It is not surprising that such a pseudo‑event failed to generate much interest not only from the Gauleiter of the temporarily occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Balytskyi, but also from the Russian media themselves. Only a few scant reports. Talk of a “worldwide resonance” from what was seen or heard would be pointless.
How did Sergey Lavrov’s ministry react?
Nevertheless, the Russian Foreign Ministry tried to give this unconvincing Zoom show maximum pomp and weight.
“Participants in the discussion emphasized that prolonged funding, arming, and training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by NATO and EU states essentially confirms the West’s complicity in the crimes of the Kyiv regime. Responsibility for civilian casualties, acts of terrorism and war crimes should be laid not only on the direct executors of criminal orders, but also on Kyiv’s political leadership and Western sponsors who are increasingly involved in criminal projects,” the Russian Foreign Ministry wrote in an information release about the “teleconference.”
Notably, Miroshnyk’s Telegram channel contains no information on the number of “victims of the Kyiv regime.” Instead such information is expansively presented on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website — “since February 2022 due to strikes at least 2 715 people, including 137 children, 508 civilians have died, of them – 23 child,” Russian propagandists “inform” about alleged civilian losses in the territory of Zaporizhzhia region temporarily occupied by Russia. Of course, there is no documentary evidence for the figures cited. From whose weapons these civilians allegedly died is also unknown.
Ukrainian Oleshky — the epicenter of the humanitarian catastrophe caused by Russian occupiers.
According to HUR, perhaps the main pretext for the Kremlin’s information operation was the need to distract the world from Moscow’s war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Oleshky in Kherson region. There, as a result of the actions of Russian occupiers, a real humanitarian catastrophe has been ongoing for several months. Two thousand civilians, including about 50 minor children, have been left blockaded without sufficient food, drinking water, medicines, or stable access to medical care. Only a few medical staff remain in the local hospital; access to the community for humanitarian organizations, volunteers, and evacuation groups has been blocked by Russian forces since May.
A month ago the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty stated that the civilian population of the occupied Oleshky community is simply at risk of death.
“I call for an immediate local ceasefire, unimpeded access for humanitarian organizations and safe evacuation of civilians. The unspeakable hardships and suffering of people on occupied territories require international attention and action,” the Council of Europe commissioner said.
Destroyed houses in Oleshky
16 October the Pope held a conversation with Putin about the situation in Russian‑occupied Kherson. Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the humanitarian catastrophe, the unblocking of civilians and the opening of logistical and evacuation corridors to the Oleshky community.
As the Vatican reported following the conversation with Putin, the Pope “expressed deep concern about the difficult humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky, Kherson region, and called for a ceasefire to enable the delivery of food and medical aid, as well as the voluntary and safe evacuation of civilians.”
The Kremlin responded that it “supports the Vatican’s intention to help create the conditions necessary to guarantee the safety of the city’s population and to organize the delivery of lifesaving shipments.”
However, the Russians still have not unblocked Oleshky. The humanitarian situation in the town and community has only deteriorated. The Russians continue to commit genocide openly.
That is why Miroshnyk’s “teleconference” was urgently needed — to demonstrate to “the whole world” the “crimes of the Kyiv regime.”
Hague “Evidence” for the International Tribunal
15 and 16 October this year in Amsterdam and The Hague — the capital of World Justice — the documentary by Ukrainian director Veronika Marchenko “Evidence” was presented. The film was created in cooperation with the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office with the support of the GIDNA project (Future for Ukraine Charitable Foundation) and the international non‑governmental human rights organization Project Expedite Justice.
Screening of the documentary film “Evidence” in The Hague
The film was a real shock to European viewers because it was created based on real videos, photos, documentary testimonies and exclusive materials from the official Ukrainian investigation of Russian crimes in another occupied Ukrainian territory — Kharkiv region during its capture by the Russian army in 2022.
Sexual violence, atrocities, torture of civilians, shootings of peaceful residents of Izium and other Slobozhanshchyna towns and villages — documentary confirmation of all these crimes formed the basis of the film “Evidence.” These “everyday” realities of life for Ukrainians under Russian occupation were a genuine shock to average Europeans during the premiere screening at the Filmhuis Den Haag cinema in The Hague.
Clearly, the documentary “Evidence,” like the results of the Kharkiv prosecutors’ work, is a huge evidentiary base for future trials of war criminals with Russian passports. Punishment for every war crime must be inevitable. From the perpetrators directly on temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory to the masterminds in high Moscow offices.
As the film’s creators said at the premiere screenings in The Hague and Amsterdam — these crimes by the Russians must be investigated by a Special War Tribunal. And according to international law, these atrocities have no statute of limitations.
P.S. Undoubtedly, the current international “teleconference” of Russian info‑propagandists was organized and conducted solely to shift attention and “blur” the world’s reaction to Russian crimes. Reactions to past crimes of the Russian army in formerly occupied Kharkiv region and reactions to the current crimes of Muscovites in the still‑occupied Kherson region.
The Kremlin’s information puppets worked in too much of a hurry and poorly. It is strange that Miroshnyk’s “teleconference” was watched mostly in the “Russian Houses” of Rossotrudnichestvo, which long ago de facto became a network of Russian special services and whose centers have therefore been declared illegal in more than ten European countries. And the official process of “closing” the Russian Houses in Europe has only just begun.
Instead, the task for Ukrainians today is to carefully, effectively, and daily document all the enemy’s war crimes so that at the future Tribunal the accused Russian criminals have no chance for justification or even mitigation of their lawful sentences. The European reaction to the premiere of the Ukrainian “Evidence” in The Hague shows that Europe knows and clearly understands on whose side Good and Truth are in this terrible existential war for our survival. For the survival of all Europe…
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Про телеміст паяца Януковича гуманітарну катастрофу в окупованих Олешках та докази для Міжнародного трибуналу в Гаазі". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: LB.ua.
