A clash outside a National Guard building on Kyiv's outskirts on Nov. 2 fueled a widespread anti-Ukrainian disinformation campaign, as users online read false claims of "Azov torture chambers" and the beating of minors.

An image of a 14-year-old, being led away from the building wrapped in a blanket, seemingly in shock, became the face of the online furor.

Readers were told he had been held in a secret military basement prison, possibly for months, facing abuse and torture. Other unverified reports claimed that up to 40 draftees were held there, some of them with grave injuries.

In fact, the boy had arrived at the building with the rest of the crowd after reading about it on Telegram. He injured himself after falling from the fence, according to the child affairs state service.

The building was used by the 1st Azov Corps of the National Guard to temporarily house recruits, some of whom were held there after abandoning their posts without leave. Four servicemen at the facility were confirmed injured and later taken to the hospital, and the National Guard promised a full investigation.

Ukrainian authorities called the unrest a deliberate provocation bearing the marks of a Russian operation.

So far, there is no hard evidence that Moscow instigated the unrest. The public's frustration with the wartime draft is very real, and cases of abuses and violations are well documented.

But data show that Moscow-linked disinformation networks swiftly seized the topic, twisting the facts...

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