MELITOPOL, April 19. /TASS/. The transition of the Ukrainian armed forces to active combat operations in the Zaporozhye area may be linked to preparations for staging a provocation in the Kiev-controlled city of Gulyaipole in the Zaporozhye Region, Vladimir Rogov, leader of the We Are Together With Russia movement, told TASS on Wednesday.
"If we are take into account the provocation that is now being prepared in Gulyaipole, I think, if something of the kind will be implemented in the information field, the Ukrainian armed forces would try to counterattack right away. <…> In light of the information war, there is a possibility that something of the kind will take place," he said.
According to the politician, a large group of Western psychological warfare experts is now working in Gulyaipole. "It is mostly made up of Frenchmen. Their main goal is to create incendiary reports about alleged Russian artillery strikes on civilian facilities and residential buildings with mass casualties. Gulyaipole is to become the new Bucha. By doing that, Kiev would be able to continue receiving Western support and blame Russia. Naturally, no one will bother to investigate such a shelling," Rogov pointed out.
He added that the constant announcements and postponement of the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, voiced in the media by both Ukrainian and Western officials, were aimed at ensuring the suddenness of the counterattack. "We are sick and tired of this information about the date of the counteroffensive. I think that the dates and the number of people talking about it amounts to hundreds in the information field; we are simply being worn out by this topic," Rogov pointed out.
On Sunday, Colonel Alexander Gordeyev, spokesman for Battlegroup East, reported that, according to signals intelligence, a group of French reporters had arrived in the Gulyaipole area, possibly for preparing to stage inflammatory video footage of alleged Russian strikes on the civilian population.