Russia has deployed a misinformation campaign as the country invades Ukraine, creating, as the New York Times put it, "an alternate reality where the invasion is justified and Ukrainians are to blame for violence."
A recent Facebook post seems to echo Russian talking points, claiming that "for eight years, Ukraine has been shooting residents of Donetsk and Lugansk just because they wanted to speak Russian."
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
We’ve previously debunked Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that ethnic Russians are Ukrainian targets of genocide. He called Russia’s attack on Ukraine a mission "to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime." But there’s no evidence to support this. Civilian deaths in Eastern Ukraine have plummeted, according to the United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights.
We also found no evidence to support the claim that people are being assassinated for wanting to speak Russian.
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