Claims that Vladimir Putin destroyed an ‘adrenochrome warehouse in Ukraine’ lack evidence

A recent blog post builds on a fictitious narrative that Russian President Vladimir Putin is stymieing the production of adrenochrome in Ukraine. 

In this alternate reality, Putin has destroyed a lab producing adrenochrome, a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline. Adrenochrome features heavily in QAnon conspiracy theories purporting the baseless idea that a global cabal of pedophiles is harvesting the chemical from the blood of children to stay young and healthy. 

A Feb. 18 blog post applauds Putin as he “decimates another adrenochrome warehouse in Ukraine.”  

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The blog post adds that Putin “spared no expense investigating reports of scores of adrenochrome farms popping up across an embattled Ukraine” and that he refused to “obliterate the building without first putting boots on the ground to confirm that the warehouse would be used to siphon blood and adrenal fluid from kidnapped Russian children.” 

We found no credible news reports or sources to corroborate the unfounded allegations, which were published on Real Raw News, a site that regularly posts fake news. The blog’s stories are written by someone using a pseudonym and the site has a disclaimer saying it contains “humor, parody and satire,” though the author has defended his stories as truth.

The same site wrote separately that Putin intercepted a shipment of adrenochrome bound for the United States. We rated that Pants on Fire!

A recent real report by Yale University researchers in collaboration with a U.S. State Department program to hold Russia accountable found that the country’s government “is operating a systematic network of at least 40 child custody centers for thousands of Ukrainian children, a potential war crime,” NPR reported. 

The researchers said they’ve verified at least 6,000 Ukrainian children detained by the Russian government and believe there are thousands more. 

We rate claims that Putin destroyed an adrenochrome warehouse in Ukraine Pants on Fire!