The Russians have "heroically" captured an uninhabited village in the Kharkiv region that was removed from the register back in 1997
Kyiv • UNN
Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had established control over Shcherbakivka in the Kharkiv region. The village was removed from the register back in 1997 due to depopulation.
On August 11, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have established control over the village of Shcherbakivka in the Kharkiv region, which had ceased to exist as a populated locality back in the late 1990s. ASTRA reported this, writes UNN.
Details
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that units of the “North” grouping had established control over Shcherbakivka. At the same time, the Ukrainian project DeepState did not record any advance by Russian troops in the area of the former village.
Shcherbakivka was located in the Derhachi district of the Kharkiv region. Due to depopulation, the settlement became deserted, after which it was removed from the register in 1997.
A similar case involving Russian military reports had already occurred. In January 2026, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced the “capture” of the former village of Bila Bereza on the border with the Kursk region. At the time, Russian military correspondent Anatoly Radov suggested that nonexistent settlements could end up in military reports for the sake of reporting figures.