No Swedes were killed in the Russian attack on a military academy in Poltava earlier this week, claims the Swedish Armed Forces.

It was on Tuesday when the military academy in the Ukrainian city of Poltava was hit by Russian Iskander missiles. According to official Ukrainian figures, at least 50 people were killed and around 300 were injured. Unofficial reports suggest that the number of dead and injured is much higher.

The academy trains, among other things, radar operators and specialists in electronic warfare. Russian military bloggers, and eventually Russian media, began spreading claims that several Swedes had been killed in the attack.

Earlier this year, Sweden decided to donate two radar surveillance planes based on the Saab 340 aircraft, and rumors suggested that Swedish instructors were present at the academy to train Ukrainians on these radar systems.

Denied by Sweden

However, these claims are refuted from the Swedish side.

“No Swedes have died in the Russian attack on the Ukrainian military academy in Poltava. This is false information being spread to mislead and create anxiety,” writes Henrik Nyström, press officer for the Swedish Armed Forces, in an email to Samnytt, and continues:

“We have responded to this disinformation with a statement on our website – forsvarsmakten.se, you will find the news at the top of the feed.”

As a basis for the claim that Swedish instructors were killed in Poltava, the Russian sources use, among other things, a forged Facebook post.

Samnytt has also contacted the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Saab.