THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
As is known, on February 22, 2026, two explosions occurred in the central part of Lviv. The first occurred around midnight, when the patrol police arrived at a call about a possible theft, and the second a few minutes later, when reinforcements arrived. As a result of the explosions, 23-year-old patrol police officer Viktoriya Shpylka died, and more than twenty people were injured. Ukrainian law enforcement officers detained the suspect and began an investigation. The crime was classified as a terrorist attack, and it is already known that a resident of the Lviv region committed it at the request of the russian special services.
After the incident, Kremlin resources and bot networks began to massively promote the same narratives, and comments in the style of “we’re not sorry for the police” are spreading on social networks. The active work of bot farms was drawn to the attention of journalist Viktor Bishchuk, reports the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications.
“Thousands of bots have launched a mass campaign “well, the police are ok”. This fits into the long-term goal of the russian plan in Ukraine – the maximum deepening of distrust in any state structures; the rupture of social ties and interactions,” he noted.
The Center for Strategic Communications notes that propaganda channels are massively distributing several narratives at once, including:
“This is a fabrication, and there is no russian trace” – to discredit the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and undermine confidence in the investigation;
“This is an internal showdown, not a terrorist attack” – to remove responsibility from russia and sow doubts;
“Ukrainian special services are lying and incompetent” – a classic attempt to devalue state institutions.
“This is not the first time the enemy has purposefully created deadly traps for Ukrainian law enforcement officers and used recruited citizens to do so,” said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, pointing to a possible connection between the terrorist attack and russia.
NUJU Information Service
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