Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric and the Lithuanian media spread information that on August 19, the Russian army fired cruise missiles at an alleged meeting place of NATO officers in Chernihiv. Among them were many Polish and Lithuanian soldiers. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the 15min project. On August 19, the Russian army hit the center of Chernihiv with an Iskander-M ballistic missile, including the drama theater, which hosted the announced exhibition of drones. As a result of the Russian attack, 7 people were killed; 144 people, including 15 children, were injured, Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a video message.

At first, Russian propaganda disseminated information exclusively about SBU specialists in Chernihiv, and the version about Lithuanians or Poles - high-ranking NATO officers appeared much later. However, there was no meeting of NATO soldiers in the theater. In a 15min comment, a representative of the Lithuanian army said: “Officers of the Lithuanian army do not participate in hostilities in Ukraine, so this information is not true”.

There is a Foreign Legion in Ukraine, but the alliance is not directly involved in hostilities in Ukraine. If any of the NATO countries entered the territory of Ukraine, the forces of the alliance would come into direct conflict with Russia.

Thus, Russian propaganda promotes the message that NATO and Russia are fighting on the territory of Ukraine, and also tries to justify missile strikes on the territory of our state. This is a continuation of the narrative that the Russian military only targets military facilities in order to whitewash itself and show that they allegedly do not commit war crimes against Ukrainians. Earlier, we talked about the message that Ukrainian officials pass off military facilities as civilian ones.