A Russian disinformation campaign has targeted Australian newsrooms and social media users with false claims about Prince Harry’s recent visit to Ukraine.

A Kremlin-linked operation has produced a fake BBC video report, supposedly revealing that a boy injured by Russian shelling was actually hurt when his drunken mother set fire to their house last year.

The BBC has confirmed the video is fake and AAP FactCheck has verified that the boy was injured in a Russian strike in 2022, which also killed his mother.

The fake BBC video has been shared in Facebook and X posts from April 14, 2025.

The posts’ captions refer to “Zelensky’s dirty methods” while the footage showcases images of Prince Harry’s April 10 visit to Lviv’s Superhumans Center, which rehabilitates victims of Russian attacks.

Harry is seen with a boy called Roman, and BBC-style text overlaying the footage claims Roman was injured in a house fire started by his drunken mother in 2024, contrary to Ukrainian claims.

Harry’s visit to the Superhumans center was well documented. Photo: AAP

As well as the social media posts, media have been targeted directly directly with the falsehood via email.

“The charred baby shown to the Prince by Ukrainians turned out to be the victim of a drunken mother who started a fire at home, rather than a victim of war,” an unknown user writes in the email, alongside a link to the fake BBC video.

Amaury Lesplingart, an expert in Russian disinformation campaigns at Finnish analytics firm Check First, said the email is part of what has been dubbed Operation Overload.

Operation Overload is a Russian campaign to flood western newsrooms with fake content and overload the global disinformation research and fact-checking community.

Contrary to the claim in the video, there has been widespread reporting of Roman Oleksiv’s injuries following a Russian missile attack on the town of Vinnytsia.

Roman has met the Pope three times. Photo: Vatican Media

He had been waiting to see a doctor with his mother when a cruise missile left him with life-threatening burns and shrapnel in his head, Reuters reported.

His mother was among 28 people killed in the attack.

Various images prior to 2024 clearly show Roman’s injuries from the rocket attack.

There are also news stories dating from 2023 of him meeting Pope Francis, taking part in ballroom dancing competitions, and returning home after undergoing 31 surgeries.

Roman’s father Yaroslav has also documented his recovery on Instagram.

The BBC’s actual reporting from Harry’s visit documents his meeting with Roman.

Lesplingart said Harry’s trip had been seized upon by Russian disinformation agents, with fake stories widely circulated.

On the day the email was sent to newsrooms, various Telegram channels ran headlines suggesting the royal family was furious at Harry’s Ukraine trip.

-AAP