Category Protected groups & minorities

Fake: Draft Notices Handed Out to Minors in Ukraine

The document being circulated online purported to be a Ukrainian draft notice is a fake. This document does not bear any similarity to an official Ukrainian draft notice, it contains the wrong category names and does not contain pertinent information that is part of a genuine draft notice. The term military commissariat is repeatedly used in the fake document. However, as of 2021 Ukrainian enlistment centers are called Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers. An analysis of the seal used in the document in question also shows that it was doctored and is not the seal of the Bila Tserkva Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center.

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Fake: Ukrainians Calling Russian Children in Gas Hoax

An audio recording is being circulated online as "evidence" of Ukrainian
"sabotage", however the recording first surfaced online at least in 2018
when it was widely circulated in Kazakhstan.

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Does this video really show children on the front lines of the war in Ukraine?

Is Ukraine sending children to fight on the front lines of the war? That's what some people on social media are claiming. As proof, they cite a video showing three very young-looking soldiers, which has been circulating online since November 8. It turns out, however, that we could identify two of the three people pictured in the footage and they are young adults - 23 and 25 years old. Furthermore, our team spoke to the NGO Amnesty International, which said that it had no knowledge of documented cases of child soldiers in the Ukrainian Army.

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Debunking claims that Ukraine is using child soldiers – Truth or Fake

The latest pro-Russian narrative in the war in Ukraine is that the Ukrainian army is sending children and teenagers to the frontline. To illustrate this claim, users are posting a video on Twitter that shows three young soldiers, claiming they are children. Our team were able to identify two of the three soldiers in the video. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

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FACT CHECK: Were Thousands Of Children Rescued From A Biden-Owned Property In Ukraine? | Check Your Fact

Verdict: False
There is no evidence suggesting any children have been rescued from Biden’s properties. There is also no evidence suggesting Biden himself owns any properties in Ukraine.

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No, a Ukrainian publisher did not issue maps omitting Russian-occupied territories

In a video posted on Russian Telegram accounts, a man claims to have found a geography book for Ukrainian high school students in which the map of Ukraine has been cut in half, missing the areas occupied by Russian troops. But several clues in the video indicate that it is a fake, as confirmed to us by the book's publisher.

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Fake: In 1943, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Crucified Four Children

This photo has nothing to do with the Ukrainian national movement and with the events of the 1943 Volyn tragedy. The children in the photo were killed by their own mother Marianna Dolinska on the night of December 11-12, 1923, in the village of Antoniowka near the Polish city Radom.

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Fake: Zelensky Orders Schools And Universities to Work Offline from September 1

Offline education process will take place only if there are protective facilities in schools and universities. In addition, the final decision on the format of education is made by regional civil-military administrations together with the students' parents. If parents disagree with offline study, they may choose an online mode, an individual schedule, or transfer their child to home study.

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Fake: Children are Taken Away from Ukrainian Refugees in Germany “for Having Emotion and…

StopFake found no evidence of Ukrainian refugees living in Europe having their children taken away from them. The German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) and the Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) are not aware of any such cases in the families of Ukrainian refugees.

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Fake: Russophobic Authorities in Barcelona Take Kids Away from Russian Woman

The story is certainly complicated, and the information currently accessible to the public is clearly not enough to draw any conclusions. But the topic of Western russophobia was clearly added to it by the correspondent of Channel One. The publications in Spanish and Swiss media do not mention that the problem is related to the war in Ukraine. They only cite Elena's words: "At school, the war in Ukraine is talked about a lot. They say that we, Russians, are all bad. And the girls would come home sad because of it" - without claims that it could have caused the children to be taken away. And the story that the girls are allegedly considered children of Ukrainians killed in the war is found only in Valentina Solovyova's story.

Read MoreFake: Russophobic Authorities in Barcelona Take Kids Away from Russian Woman