Ukraine Says Russia 'Staged' The Video Showing Ukrainian Soldiers Desecrating Muslim Quran

Ukraine has accused Russia of staging a propaganda video showing Ukrainian soldiers desecrating the Quran, the holy book of Islam, in an attempt to discredit Kyiv.

On Thursday, a video began circulating on social media showing what appeared to be Ukrainian soldiers cutting pork on a copy of the Quran that belonged to captured Russian fighters. The soldiers were also later seen tearing and burning the pages of the holy book.

In response to the video, Oleg Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, blasted Russia for staging the "fake video" and said that the country should be condemned for insulting Islam.

"Fake video alert! Russia staged a clip with unknown people claiming to be Ukrainian soldiers cutting pork on a Quran and burning its pages. They speak broken Ukrainian and use a Russian army knife. Russia must be condemned for insulting Islam in an attempt to discredit Ukraine," Nikolenko said in a Twitter post.

Said Ismagilov, the Mufti of UMMA — the Spiritual Administration of Ukraine's Muslims, also slammed Russia for spreading fake news about Ukrainian soldiers desecrating the Quran and argued that, unlike Russia's army, Ukraine's military respects "the spiritual choice of each soldier."

"They aimed to provoke outrage among the Muslim world in Ukraine with the actions of alleged Ukrainian soldiers. But just like any other propagandistic news, this video is clueless," Ismagilov said, as translated by Ukrainska Pravda. "Unlike Russians, Ukrainians are all united; they support each other and respect the spiritual choice of each soldier. We have no 'churban' books; we do not even use this word."

The Armed Forces of Ukraine also issued a statement wherein it said Ukrainian soldiers would not have desecrated the Quran as "people of different nationalities and religions" work together to defend the country from Russia's invasion.

Since the war began in February last year, Russia has created a massive number of propaganda and disinformation videos. In fact, at least 35 new propaganda narratives were created per day in the first month of the invasion, TIME reported, citing data from LetsData, a non-profit that uses artificial intelligence to analyze hostile information operations.

To combat Russian propaganda and disinformation, Ukrainian officials have set up teams and processes to verify all facts in updates posted on official channels to pre-empt challenges to their credibility.