Wuhan Rescue Mission with Ukrainians from the epicenter of coronavirus epidemic arrived in Ukraine late on February 20. All the crew: the flight attendant, pilots, and doctors are volunteers. All flew to pick up their citizens because Ukraine does not leave alone their people!
And here it is: compatriots met them on the native land with protests and setting tires on fire.
In the evening before the arrival of Ukrainians and several foreigners evacuated from Wuhan, some provocateurs among the residents of Novy Sanzhary spread information that Ukrainians from China should be quarantined to the local medical center. After that, a group of local citizens blocked the road of interregional significance. Attempts of the law enforcement officers to unblock the roadway led to the resistance of the protesters, followed by a fight. The police detained more than 10 aggressively-minded people who were exposed to awareness-building activities and were explained the consequences of such actions.
Obviously, the way in which some social groups from the Ukrainian society responded to current situation creates a very unpleasant impression overall of Ukraine. However, it may be explained in a quite prosaic way.
All the days before the arrival of Ukrainian citizens evacuated from China, panic among the local citizens in different regions of the state was played up and skillfully boosted by pro-Russian politicians. On the eve of Ukrainians’ come back from Wuhan it was announced by President of Ukraine V. Zelensky. In particular, he threatened politicians involved in dissemination of fake news and instigating panic that he would personally bring the evacuated people to their mansions in an elite area nearby Kyiv.
At the same time, the law enforcement agencies found that provocateurs instigated panic in different regions of the state through Russian TV channels (popular among the older generation of Ukrainians who do not have access or skills to use the Internet) and social networks.
The situation was also fueled by the appeared fake messages from the mailbox of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine which reported several laboratory-confirmed events of COVID-19 in Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv, and taking appropriate measures, as well as requested communication of this important information to relatives and colleagues. While this information was officially confuted by the Ministry, fake letters contributed to whipping up panic and fear among the local citizens in different regions throughout the state.
In addition, over the past two weeks, different groups on social networks disseminated information about the plane from Wuhan that had already landed not far from one or another Ukrainian settlement and that buses with evacuated people had been sent to an infectious diseases hospital located nearby. Panic rumors calling for protest organization and road blocking were associated with a note: “Information is refuted, but it is confirmed from a reliable source!!!” Such messages from anonymous addressers were received by residents of different settlements in Ukraine to their mobile phones, which confirms the involvement of a third party in disruption of the situation throughout the state.
Currently, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies examine those who called for protests against the evacuation of Ukrainians from China and for blocking the route of the evacuees to the quarantine location. The police found that were not the local residents who were involved in dissemination of panic through social networks and the protest organization, which also argue for a coordinated political provocation.
