Posts on social media suggest that Swedish instructors were killed following the Russian attack on Poltava that claimed 51 lives. The Swedish Armed Forces have issued a clarification.
The Russian attack on the city of Poltava in early September, which targeted a military institute and a hospital, left 51 people dead. It was one of the deadliest in recent months in Ukraine and was condemned by US President Joe Biden.
Since then, several posts have appeared on social media related to another country besides Ukraine: Sweden. “In addition to the large number of servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, several foreign instructors from Sweden” were killed “during the missile attack on the training center of the communications forces in Poltava.”
These posts mention Brrita Elvanger, who is supposed to be a “foreign volunteer working” for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and who has collaborated, in the past, with Swedish instructors. This supposed profile (which has accounts on several social networks) justifies the presence of Swedish military personnel on Ukrainian territory, since Stockholm donated two DRLO ASC 890 aircraft. The instructors would be helping Ukrainian pilots learn to fly the aircraft.
However, Swedish diplomacy has issued a denial. A note posted on the website of the Swedish Armed Forces and signed by spokeswoman Therese Fagerstedt claims that the information circulating on “social media” about the death of Swedish instructors in Poltava is “incorrect”.
“There has been incorrect information, especially on social media, that instructors of the Armed Forces were killed in a Russian attack on a school in Poltava,” the note reads, calling the dissemination of this information a “typical example of how disinformation can spread quickly.”
Conclusion
It is not true that Swedish instructors were killed during the attack on the Ukrainian city of Poltava. The information conveyed in social media posts was denied in a statement by the Swedish Armed Forces, which described it as an “example of disinformation.”
Thus, according to Observer’s classification system, this content is:
MISTAKEN
In Facebook’s ranking system, this content is:
FAKE: Claims about the main content are factually inaccurate. This option usually corresponds to “false” or “mostly false” ratings on fact-checking websites.
NOTE: This content was selected by Observador as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.
Source: Observadora
