Russians fabricated a story about a serviceman in Mykolaiv who allegedly "killed a dog to eat it"

The Center for Countering Disinformation May 8, 2026 reported another Russian propaganda fake aimed at discrediting Ukrainian servicemen.

According to the CCD, hostile channels are spreading a fabricated report claiming that an alleged fighter of the 103rd Separate Territorial Defense Brigade in Mykolaiv “killed a dog to eat it”.

To create an appearance of authenticity, Russian propagandists used a forged screenshot of a Ukrainian media news item. In the falsified image the word “man” in the headline was replaced with “serviceman”, and fictional details were added about the alleged perpetrator’s intention to eat the animal. The Center emphasized that the original Ukrainian media and law enforcement reports contain no mention of the detainee’s affiliation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In fact, this concerns a civilian who was detained by patrol officers for animal cruelty.

The CCD notes that this is a typical tactic of Russian disinformation: falsifying headlines and attributing criminal offenses to Ukrainian servicemen. The goal of such fabrications – to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, sow fear and distrust among civilians, and create a false impression of alleged widespread criminality among servicemen.

Previously we wrote:

• “’Military robber’”: how Russian propaganda fabricated a fake from the criminal chronicle of the Mykolaiv region
• Russia justifies the shelling of Kyiv and the deaths of civilians with terrifying fakes
• Only transparency will stop fakes: the army revealed the real scale of scandals surrounding TCK
• Kyiv TCK urges people not to watch or share videos with “busification”: public reaction
• Ground Forces: in the Dnipropetrovsk region a man with a knife attacked a TCK serviceman