{
  "id": 16980742,
  "title": "A Russian disinformation campaign cloned Euromaidan Press to blame Ukraine for Russia’s own strike on Kramatorsk (we took the fake down)",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/a-russian-disinformation-campaign-cloned-euromaidan-press-to-blame",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-29T00:02:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Euromaidan Press",
    "slug": "euromaidan-press",
    "url": "https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/10/29/a-russian-disinformation-campaign-cloned-euromaidan-press-to-blame-ukraine-for-russias-own-strike-on-kramatorsk-we-took-the-fake-down/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Euromaidan Press was impersonated by a Russian disinformation campaign. A fraudulent website, Euromaidan Press-, published a fake article claiming a Ukrainian drone killed civilians in Kramatorsk. This came one day after the original report appeared on our site. The fabrication spread via social media, with accounts like @vick55top, @indiaTales7, and @Wonder_star21 sharing it. The fake video, allegedly produced with AI, garnered hundreds of thousands of views. The actual 8 October 2026 attack was a Russian aerial bombing of two buses, killing 33 civilians. The disinformation campaign aims to erode Western support for Ukraine and sow distrust among political elites. The fake site scraped our real articles and inserted the fabricated one, giving it the credibility of reputable reporting. The look-alike domain was registered eight days before the fake appeared. This incident is part of a larger pattern of Russian operations impersonating trustworthy news brands to spread false narratives.",
  "summary": "Researchers tie the fake to Storm-1516, a Russian influence operation that has overtaken RT and Sputnik by cloning trusted news brands to publish fabricated stories under their names.",
  "key_points": [
    "Russian disinformation campaign cloned Euromaidan Press.",
    "Fraudulent site published fake article blaming Ukraine for own Kramatorsk strike.",
    "Attack on 8 October 2026 killed 33 civilians, not civilians as claimed."
  ],
  "editors_take": "Impersonating reputable news brands allows Russian actors to weaponize the credibility of established media to spread fabricated narratives designed to erode Western political support for Ukraine.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "Ukraine, Russia, US peace negotiators to meet between Nov. 6 and 10, Zelensky says",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/ukraine-russia-us-peace-negotiators-to-meet-between-nov-6-and-10",
        "published": "2026-10-29T01:07:02.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}