Fact check: No, Russia didn't bomb a 'pedo enclave' in Ukraine
A false news report has gained traction online and fuelled conspiracy theories that recent Russian airstrikes in Ukraine were targeting a European paedophile ring.
The fake report, published by a website called Real Raw News, claims that President Vladimir Putin ordered the assault on a child-trafficking cartel formed of Ukrainian, Albanian, French and German paedophiles, prompting anger among Western governments.
The strikes were supposedly what prompted US President Donald Trump to take to his Truth Social platform to blast Putin as "crazy" for intensifying attacks on Ukraine.
The article says that the intel about the paedophile ring came from a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent called Andrei Zakharov.
He allegedly said that Russian aircraft flew over the region, dropping leaflets warning civilians to evacuate to ensure that no children were in the area when the assault began.
However, the contents of the report are completely fabricated, not least because it comes from a known fake news website.
Real Raw News was created in April 2020 and is known for publishing misleading articles about the COVID-19 pandemic and the deaths of public figures.
Euronews has previously reported on fake news coming from the site, and its own About Us page says that it contains "humour, parody and satire."
All reputable reporting on the Russian airstrikes that took place between 24 and 25 May said that Moscow had killed at least 13 people and injured dozens, including children.
Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 367 drones and missiles at the country overnight, making it the largest single aerial attack since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine at the time of the assault.
There's no mention in any reliable reporting of a paedophile enclave and officials said that military, residential and industrial buildings had sustained damage. There's also no credible evidence that an FSB agent called Andrei Zakharov exists.
Following the airstrikes, Trump did post on Truth Social that Putin had "gone absolutely crazy" and was needlessly killing civilians and later hinted at more potential sanctions on Russia.
"Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever," Trump said on Truth Social. "I've always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that's proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!"
When asked by a reporter if he would potentially impose additional sanctions on Russia, Trump said he would "absolutely" consider doing so.
The Kremlin responded to Trump's accusations by suggesting that the US president was showing signs of "emotional overload" after attempting to launch peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
The US Senate is expected to work on a Russian sanctions bill in the coming days, according to Senator Lindsey Graham, following talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 30 May.
The Berlin Administrative Court declared on Monday that the rejection of asylum seekers at German borders to be unlawful, dealing a major blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt's migration policy.
The court ruled on the case of three Somali nationals who were deported at the border with Poland, stressing that Merz's government had violated asylum laws. The court says immigrants cannot be turned away without their asylum application being examined first.
The Somali nationals, two men and one woman, were turned away at a train station after requesting asylum in the city of Frankfurt an der Oder in the east of the country after arriving from Poland on 9 May.
The court delivered its decision, which is not open to appeal, after considering emergency appeals from the immigrants.
Judges found the foreign nationals' rejection to be unlawful as they stated that at least one of the migrants had legitimate cause for asylum. They also added that the general policy of the new conservative government was lacking legal justification.
Merz's government had announced in May its new hardline migration policy which seeks to severely crackdown on irregular migrants. The new initiative pledged to completely halt the asylum process, freezing applications and turning away asylum seekers at the borders.
The court says the initiative is not in line with EU immigration policy – the Dublin system. Under the system, Berlin is obligated to thoroughly examine application and make a decision on a case-by-case basis.
It also mandates each member country to conduct a full-scale investigation to determine which member state is responsible for assessing the asylum claim once it's been made.
'The decision of the administrative court today states that a Dublin check must be carried out. This means that the border crossing has to take place, and Germany has to check which member state is responsible for the asylum procedure,' says Dobrindt.
'In this decision, the court stated that the justification for our measures should have been more specific. This means that we are also complying with this demand and providing more detailed reasons.'
Pushbacks at the borders were a campaign promise of the new Chancellor, Merz, and Interior Minister Dobrindt, although many critical voices said they were illegal. After the court decision, at least one MP called for Dobrindt to resign.
But Dobrindt insists that pushbacks will continue, adding that he believes the government does have a legal framework to support their policy.
'Incidentally, we are sticking to the pushbacks. We see that the legal basis is there and will therefore continue to proceed in this way, regardless of this individual case decision,' said Dobrindt.
The new conservative federal government had tried to legally justify turning asylum seekers away at the borders through a clause in the German Asylum Act, and an article in the Treaty on the Functioning of European Union.
Article 72 allows member states to suspend EU law in case of threats to public order. The Berlin court rejected the premise of invoking Article 72 citing insufficient evidence of a threat to the country.
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