Russia continues trying to evade responsibility for the missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital. This time, Russian propaganda is spreading fakes about a doctor in a bloodstained white coat whose photo was circulated by media outlets around the world.
The Russian news aggregator “Rambler”—under the headline ““A debunking of the bloody drama after a missile fell in Kyiv has surfaced online””—claims there are new facts that supposedly point to a “theatrical staging” at “Okhmatdyt”.
Citing unnamed Ukrainian Telegram channels, the author of the fake story talks about a video in which “a Ukrainian police officer pours artificial blood from a bag onto a surgeon-actor.” Experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation recently debunked this video after verifying the information with the National Police of Ukraine.
“Rambler” also cites other fake ‘evidence’, such as an “unnatural color of blood” that “social media users noticed” on the day of the strike.
“The exact same one-for-one scenario happened in Bucha. Now the public, angered by the truth, will be calmed down by a new strike on another hospital or school so they don’t relax. A closed loop that cannot be broken.”
That day, at the site where the missile hit, alongside medics, rescuers, and municipal workers, hundreds of ordinary people helped clear the rubble. Afterwards, a photo of a doctor in a bloodstained coat—clearing debris alongside others—spread across the internet. Many documentarians came to record the aftermath of the Russian missile attack on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital. Serhii Melnychenko, Pavlo Florescu, and Yuliia Kochetova were among those who photographed the doctor in the bloodstained coat.
The person in the photo is Oleh Holubchenko. As stated on the Okhmatdyt hospital website, the department of plastic and reconstructive microsurgery includes the maxillofacial surgery service of the Okhmatdyt National Specialized Children’s Hospital, where Oleh Holubchenko is one of the doctors. On his Instagram page, you can see the results of maxillofacial operations performed on Okhmatdyt’s young patients and read grateful reviews from parents.
The Associated Press was among the Western media outlets that quickly reported on the missile strike on the children’s hospital in Kyiv.
“Pediatric surgeon Oleh Holubchenko told the Associated Press that he was operating on a child with congenital facial defects, and that he and his team decided to continue the surgery despite the air-raid alert. ‘We couldn’t stop halfway,’ he said.”
The blast wave from the missile strike threw him across the operating room. Shrapnel caused him minor injuries and damaged the infant’s ventilator. The child, with an open wound, had to be transferred to another Kyiv hospital, where the surgery was completed.
Journalists from Ukrainska Pravda found that during the missile attack, Oleh Holubchenko suffered a concussion and injuries. His medical coat was bloodstained from shrapnel that became lodged in his back.
This material was produced with the support of The Fritt Ord Foundation.
Worked on this piece:
Topic researcher, text author: Yana Yevmenova
Photo editor: Olga Kovalova
Literary editor: Yuliia Futei
