Was Mykhailo Porechenkov killed? Where did the story about the actor's "drone-bombed car" come from and what's wrong with it?

On Valentine's Day, February 14, rumors surfaced online about the death of one of Russia's most ardent propagandists, actor Mykhailo Porechenkov. He was allegedly killed in the temporarily occupied Donbas.

The topic became a popular query on Google, and it was discussed on X, formerly known as Twitter. OBOZ.UA decided to find out where the rumors came from and what was wrong with them.

The day before, a video with the loud title "Ukrainian Armed Forces eliminated Mykhailo Porechenkov in Donetsk region" appeared on YouTube, where artificial intelligence read the news, saying that a drone flew into the actor's car while he was driving on business.

"This is the vegetable who visited the captured Donetsk in October 2014, where he fired a machine gun together with the DPR militants, probably at the positions of the Ukrainian military at the Donetsk airport. So, on that wonderful day, Mr. Porechenkov finally stopped breathing. He again visited Donetsk where his car was blown up by our combat drone. Rest in peace," the AI text reads.

The video gained an impressive half a million views in a day, and gullible users did not question this information and began to spread it on social media. It even got to the point where the star's children were sent questions about the Putinist's well-being.

The viral video contained no links to the source, no photo or video evidence, and no reaction to the news of the "murder."

When the first video became very popular and was recommended, another one appeared with a "confirmation" and a link to the artist's "friends on Odnoklassniki." But again, no screenshots were attached.

Porechenkov does not use social media accessible to Ukrainians, so it is difficult to verify this dubious news. However, if you search for the actor's page on Vkontakte, which is banned in Ukraine, you will find that he is online and does not comment on the rumors.

The propagandists also did not write a word about the "killed" Russian, so we can assume that the information about his death is fake.