After the fall of a Russian Kh-101 missile in the Lublin Voivodeship of Poland, two main disinformation campaigns were recorded in the information space of the Republic of Poland: one directed against Ukraine, the other against the Polish government. This was reported to the PAP agency by Małgorzata Szumna, head of the Narrative Analysis and Fact-Checking Group of the Polish state institute NASK, writes UNN.
Details
As Szumna notes, the first campaign spreads false claims about Ukraine's alleged responsibility for the missile incident. In particular, conspiracy theories are circulating on social media that the visit of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Lublin the day before allegedly caused a missile threat to the region.
She emphasized that such claims do not correspond to reality and ignore the main fact – a massive Russian missile strike on Ukraine, during which one of the missiles violated Poland's airspace. Also, baseless statements are being spread online about an alleged Ukrainian provocation and an attempt to drag Poland into the war.
Szumna noted that these narratives contradict official information from the Polish authorities. In particular, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reported that the object that fell in the Lublin Voivodeship is most likely a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
The second direction of disinformation concerns the Polish authorities. According to the expert, conspiracy claims are spreading on social media that the government is allegedly deliberately intimidating citizens with reports of a threat and creating an atmosphere of fear to manipulate society.
Such narratives can weaken trust in state institutions and complicate effective response to crisis situations
She also warned that there is a high probability of further use of this incident by Russian propaganda to deepen social polarization.
The expert called on citizens to verify information, use reports from official state bodies and media that conduct fact-checking, and also to critically approach emotional publications on social media.
Ukrainian expert to join investigation of missile fall in Poland31.07.26, 09:38