'Witches and Sorcerers': Russian Media Peddles Ukraine Black Magic Claims

On Friday, Russian media again peddled claims that Ukraine is using "black magic" against President Vladimir Putin's forces in the ongoing war.

Ukrainian "authorities do not mind flirting with evil forces," Russian pro-Kremlin news website life.ru claimed in an article titled: Abductions, robbery, extortion: How the Nazis hunted the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine.

The article accused Oleksiy Arestovych, military adviser to Ukraine's presidency, of calling on Ukrainian witches and sorcerers to conduct occult rites after Putin launched his invasion in February.

An "occult community" responded to Arestovych's calls, and a ritual was carried out by sorcerers in Ukraine's western Ternopil region, the outlet said.

"Officials and security forces of Ukraine sometimes behave like witches and sorcerers," it continued.

The article cited Russian state-run media outlet RIA Novosti's claims earlier this week that Ukraine is using "black magic" to thwart Putin's invasion.

That report said "signs" of black magic were found at the Ukrainian artillery headquarters on the outskirts of a village called Trekhizbenka in the Luhansk region, and published images of what it called a "satanic seal" that was allegedly found on the walls of a military unit's headquarters.

"For example, at the headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the village of Trekhizbenka (LPR), an occult inscription was found, which may indicate the occupation of Ukrainian servicemen with black magic," Life.ru reported.

RIA Novosti cited cult researcher Ekaterina Dyce as claiming that the sign allegedly found on the walls of Ukrainian military headquarters is a magical sigil (symbol) "consisting of many intersecting lines."

Dyce claimed the sign is a "magic seal of dark forces" that combines elements of anarchy, weapons and fascist symbols, and noted that it was drawn in one continuous hand movement. This indicates its "occult nature," she said.

"What it means is difficult to say for sure, in it you can see both the inverted sign of anarchy and part of the sign "CC", rune zig, it is clearly visible in the far left sector of the circle, and the Hebrew letter 'zayin' written in German, meaning sword or weapon," Dyce said.

The news outlet also claimed that authorities found a blood-covered document inside the building.

"There were blood stripes on the document, despite the fact that there were no such traces anywhere else," the report said.

Newsweek has been unable to independently verify the claims.

Newsweek has reached out to Russian authorities and Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.