The American TV channel CNN removed from its website the photos of tanks issued as Russian from its website about the situation on the contact line in Donbass, after being exposed by the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
A Russian diplomat earlier on Tuesday caught the channel of disinformation, as journalists illustrated the story about the direction of allegedly Russian tanks to the border with Ukraine with footage that was filmed near the railway station of the Ukrainian Dnieper. Zakharova accused CNN of lack of fact-checking and advised his correspondents who are in Moscow to “take their minds off their involvement in Russian public life and devote a little more time to their profession.”
A few hours after Zakharova’s post, the photograph was removed from the site.
On the eve, the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said that the country’s authorities believe that the United States should deploy Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) on the territory of the state.
In turn, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said that the movement of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border is aimed at intimidating Kiev and Western countries.
At the same time, on April 9, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, stressed that the movement of Russian troops through the territory of the Russian Federation should not bother other countries, since it does not threaten them in any way.
On the same day, Zakharova said that the Ukrainian media were whipping up “hysteria” about the mythical Russian threat and Moscow’s plans “to attack Ukraine almost tomorrow.”
On April 7, the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics announced the deterioration of the situation on the contact line in Donbass.
Since 2014, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against the residents of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’etat and the new government in Ukraine. The settlement issues are being discussed in the Normandy and Minsk formats – with the participation of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.