WHAT WAS CLAIMED: A BBC report reveals a Russian missile victim who met Prince Harry is a fraud.
OUR VERDICT: False. The BBC report is fake and the boy is a genuine victim of a Russian missile attack.
On 4 April 2025, Russian forces launched a ballistic missile attack on a residential area in Kryvyi Rih. The missile, equipped with a cluster warhead, landed near a children's playground, causing heavy civilian casualties. Twenty people were killed, nine of them children. Video footage from the restaurant, which was also damaged in the strike, clearly shows that no military personnel were present at the time of the attack.
In a comment for StopFake, the 117th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade in the Sumy region claimed that this information is fake. There is even no 153rd brigade in the Armed Forces. Instead, the 153rd separate battalion of the territorial defense was formed in Shostka at the very beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. In Ukraine, only citizens over the age of 18 are considered conscripts and can be drafted.
In a comment to StopFake, the lyceum denied the information circulating online. Besides, the cited announcement has not been posted on the school's official website.
A draft law on the protection of children's rights during temporary departure from the country, which aims to unify Ukrainian legislation with that of the European Union. Parliamentarians propose to limit independent travel from Ukraine abroad for teenagers aged 16 to 18. Teenagers will be able to make such trips only if accompanied by a parent or trusted person.
It is essential to instill critical thinking skills in children to help them navigate internet safely and avoid spreading false information.
Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about Nazi Ukraine.
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has long been a cornerstone of pro-Kremlin disinformation efforts. This has already been widely debunked and addressed on EUvsDisinfo.
The claim that the Ukrainian security services turn children into terrorists is false. The Kremlin spreads fake content on the internet, claiming that teenagers in Russia receive calls for terrorism from Ukraine. The Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) has warned about this.
We debunk an ongoing theme in the Russian disinformation and propaganda campaign: That Ukraine is sending children to fight on the frontline. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.
Out of the 197 fact-checking articles our team wrote in 2023, 52 of them concerned the war in Ukraine. And 50 of those highlighted pro-Russian disinformation aimed at discrediting Kyiv and the Ukrainian war effort.
Due to Russian aggression and occupiers' attacks on civilian infrastructure, only a third of Ukrainian schoolchildren have the opportunity to study full-time in a face-to-face format. More than 4,100 schools in Ukraine have been destroyed or damaged. That is why Ukrainian schools practice mixed methods - online and offline - in safe shelters underground.