On July 8, the POSTV’s Facebook page shared a video with a caption stating that representatives of the military commissariat in Kharkiv took a young man from the street for military service, and that his mother died of a stroke on the spot. The video shows a middle-aged woman chasing a car, then collapsing and falling to the ground.
On the same day, several other Facebook accounts (1,2,3,4) shared identical claims. Based on the video, Russian propaganda media outlets, including kp.ru, ntv.ru, ria.ru, 1tv.ru, aif.ru, lenta.ru, iz.ru, also reported that a Ukrainian woman died in Kharkiv while trying to save her son from being mobilized. The video was further disseminated by other Russian-speaking Facebook users (1, 2, 3).
The claim that a mother in Kharkiv died of a stroke after her son was taken to the war is false. The woman lost consciousness due to emotional shock, but her condition later stabilized. As of now, there is no confirmed information about her death. What is true is that the young man was being checked as part of conscription procedures.
On 8 July, in Merefa, Kharkiv Oblast, a team from Ukraine’s Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support (formerly known as the Military Commissariat), accompanied by police, checked the military registration documents of a citizen on the street. As part of the conscription process, the individual was asked to follow the team to the district commissariat to clarify his records data. According to Ukraine’s defense agency, the man complied without resistance and got into the vehicle without incident.
A few minutes later, a car arrived at the scene, and an older woman who got out tried to stop the vehicle. At that moment, she lost consciousness and collapsed. The video footage of the incident circulated on social media, but it does not show any violence or physical confrontation during the recruitment or on the part of the Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support officers.
After collapsing, the woman was taken to a medical facility by ambulance, but she refused hospitalization. This was officially confirmed by both the Kharkiv regional commissariat and the spokesperson of the Kharkiv police, Olena Sobolvska, who stated that the woman is alive and that the reports of her death are not true. The Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support also maintains that its representatives committed no unlawful actions toward the woman or her son.
The article will be updated if additional information becomes available.
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022, Myth Detector has fact-checked numerous instances of disinformation and manipulated video about the ongoing military mobilization in Ukraine.
About the sources:
One of the Facebook users sharing the video is Irma Khakhutaishvili, a supporter of the ruling party Georgian Dream. Khakhutaishvili is known for regularly posting anti-Western content, as well as false claims and fake news targering the Georgian opposition. Myth Detector has fact-checked her posts on multiple occasions. She has also participated in discreditation campaigns against former Public Defender Nino Lomjaria and the leader of the political party Lelo, Mamuka Khazaradze.
Another Facebook user sharing the video is Nodo Demurishvili, who has previously disseminated disinformation. Read more in Myth Detector’s reports.
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