Russian propaganda through photos of children in occupied Kherson

STANISLAV POHORILOV – FRIDAY, 26 AUGUST 2022, 21:51

The occupiers put up posters in Kherson depicting children wearing vyshyvankas [Ukrainian traditional embroidered shirts] in Kyiv Oblast. The invaders "borrowed" these photos from Hanna Pasichnyk, the Ukrainian photographer.

Source: Ukrainian BBC service

Details: In May, the professional photographer Hanna Pasichnyk, a resident of Kyiv Oblast, posted a photo shoot with her son and his best friend on Instagram. The children stood in the middle of a blossoming rapeseed field, wearing vyshyvankas. "With Ukraine in my heart", Hanna wrote. "Thank you, Armed Forces! Glory to Ukraine."

Pasichnyk put the photos on the website for sale. "Children are asking for support for Ukraine," the description of the photo said in English.

Later, these very same shots with children in vyshyvankas appeared on billboards in occupied Kherson.

"Russia is here forever!", "Kherson is forever with Russia", "Kherson is a Russian city": photos of billboards with such slogans were published a few weeks ago by the pro-Russian channel Kherson.ru.

Hanna recognized her photos in the images on the billboard; the Russian flag was photoshopped as a background for the children on the image, and the yellow rapeseed flowers were virtually replaced with a flower meadow.

On 24 August, the photographer published a post on Instagram, in which she publicly spoke out against the use of her photos in occupied Kherson.

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