Robert Saviano took by storm on social media after posting a photo of a mutilated Ukrainian child with a caption referring to the current war. But the recording, on the contrary, turned out to be taken out of context, referring specifically to 2015 and the conflict within it Donbass erupted in 2014.
“Not looking for alibis for the #Putin war is the duty of those who remember this conflict it is read that ravages the bodies of civilians. Respecting that pain means not becoming a sounding board for Moscow’s propaganda.”
Don’t look for alibis for war #Putin It is the duty of those who remember this conflict raging on the bodies of civilians. Respecting this pain means not becoming the sounding board of Moscow propaganda. pic.twitter.com/0Tm2983sv5
Roberto Saviano (@robertosaviano) April 15, 2022
The story was published in an article on Open. The child pictured is Mykola Nyzhnykovskyia young boy who was mutilated after picking up an unexploded grenade in a field near his home Mariupol.
According to the reconstruction, this camp may have been turned into a training ground of the Ukrainian army during the 2014 conflict, but it is not certain. It is good to remember that Mariupol was involved in the clashes back in 2014, after the outbreak of war between Kyiv and the separatist fighters.
For months, Ukrainian and Donetsk troops fought over territory before the separatists finally withdrew in the summer of 2014. Since then and until the outbreak of war in February 2022, Mariupol was firmly in Ukrainian hands. But the aftermath of those first encounters changed little Mykola’s life forever.
He and his family since his 4 year old brother was killed in that blast in 2015. In the hospital in Kyiv, young Mykola lost both legs and his right arm.
Shortly thereafter, the decision was made to transfer Montreal. In fact, in Ukraine there was a mission of Canadian doctors who also arrived to operate on Ukrainian soldiers wounded in Donbass. Given the conditions of little Mykola, the team decided to intervene directly in Canada.
And this is exactly where the photo was taken in December 2015 and published today by Saviano. The shot is off Marta Ivanek and was performed at the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Montreal.
Since then, the photo has become a symbol of the war in Ukraine, albeit the one of 2014. Today, as underlined on Open and as noted in many comments on social media, Saviano uses it out of context. The Campanian writer published a photo accusing the Russians of war, without knowing or considering that the shot had nothing to do with Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
The Twitter post was not removed, which brought even more criticism for Saviano. Also because in these days of war and especially the propaganda of both sides, the fear of contextless recordings and news from different areas is widespread.