Top PsyOp of the week (02.11. – 08.11. 2026): "my dad is gonna smash your face in!"; the conspiracy theorist minister and secret prisons

The chief thoughtfully waves his hand: — Send him back to the platoon. He'll just decide this is a health resort... While some invent "health resorts" for the military, others create entire virtual worlds with "secret torture cells."

Kharkiv Secret Prisons Fake: Russian state media and propaganda channels launched a baseless narrative claiming that National Guard units were redeployed to Kharkiv to guard "secret prisons" allegedly set up after an incident in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka. In reality, there is no evidence of such prisons, and the claims rely solely on anonymous, hostile sources. The narrative exploits a local domestic conflict to discredit the National Guard and mirrors Russia's historical attempts to rebrand its own documented torture sites in the Kharkiv region as Ukrainian "staging."

The 14-Year-Old TikTok "Victim" Hoax: Russian and local Telegram channels heavily promoted a video of a 14-year-old boy from Borshchahivka wrapped in a thermal blanket, claiming he was brutally beaten and tortured by Ukrainian military. In reality, earlier footage captured the same teen aggressively throwing stones at the National Guard facility and shouting Russian-language threats. When he fell over the fence and got slightly injured, he was wrapped in a blanket for protection. The provocation was designed as a TikTok-driven psyop to fabricate a "torture camp" narrative and discredit the military.

The Hospital & Investigation Facts: Public speculation and conspiracy theories claimed that discussions around a 14-year-old boy were meant to distract from the hospitalization of four National Guard servicemen from Borshchahivka. Legal experts and officials clarified that details are withheld due to active State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) proceedings under martial law (Article 426-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and military/medical confidentiality to protect soldiers who previously served in combat and were detained after going AWOL (СЗЧ).

Mobile Connection Blackout Hoax: A resurrected hoax claimed that the government passed a "law to shut down mobile networks and the internet during air raid alerts." Users were lured via deceptive links to an anonymous Telegram channel promising an "autonomous system." Authorities confirmed no such laws exist, exposing the trick as a clickbait scheme designed to artificially boost subscriber counts by exploiting public fear.

QAnon Signals in US-Russia Diplomacy: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the QAnon slogan "Patriots in control," to which Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev replied within three minutes with another QAnon mantra, "WWG1WGA," responding to a post about European concerns regarding a US-Russia security deal. Analysts note this highlights how Russian actors leverage fringe American conspiracy movements and symbols (like NCSWIC and WWG1WGA) to build informal rapport with radical factions and undermine conventional diplomatic norms.

Read more in the Ukrainian edition....