Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksiy Danilov denied reports on Valerii Zaluzhnyi’s injury and noted that this was Russia's way of diverting attention from the events in the Belgorod region.
Russia's propaganda media began publishing disinformation that Zaluzhnyi was wounded in early May and would no longer be able to perform the duties of the Commander-in-Chief. Oleksiy Danilov refuted this fake and noted that Zaluzhnyi reported during the meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
"The President of Ukraine, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy heard reports from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi and other members of the Staff on May 24, 2023 at 10.00 a.m.," the statement said.
During the telethon, Danilov noted that in this way the enemy is trying to distract society from the "shameful events" in the Belgorod region.
"They want to interrupt the information noise regarding the shameful events that took place in the Belgorod region. Of course, they need some kind of newsworthy reason now, so they decided to spread a fake information wave in this way. Zaluzhnyi is fine, he has no illnesses, he has not been involved in any processes, he is alive and well, everything is fine," the NSDC Secretary said.
On 20 May, Russia launched disinformation about the alleged disappearance of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi. The Ministry of Defence denied the fake.