On October 12 and 13, several Georgian– and Russian-language Facebook accounts (1; 2; 3) shared a video that, according to their claims, was filmed in Ukraine’s Kyiv metro. In the video, a gathered crowd appears to be chanting, “Ze, come down to us.” According to the accompanying description, Kyiv residents are supposedly calling on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to come down to them instead of staying in a private, comfortable bunker.
The fabricated video is being circulated, suggesting that Ukrainians sheltering in the Kyiv metro during a bombing were asking Zelenskyy to come to them instead of staying in his bunker. The audio of the video has been altered. In reality, the footage showing Ukrainians in the metro singing a traditional Ukrainian folk song was recorded in 2022.
Verification of the video confirmed that it was not filmed recently and that the audio was modified. Its original version was published on October 10, 2022. Ukrainian outlet Radio Kultura reported that the video was filmed at the “Nyvky” metro station in Kyiv. Citizens were taking shelter in the metro during another Russian bombing and singing the folk song “Розпрягайте, хлопці, коней.”
That same day, other media outlets also shared videos of Ukrainians singing in the Nyvky metro station. For example, Apostrof TV published a video on its YouTube channel showing Ukrainians performing the patriotic song.
Attempts to find any information in Ukrainian media about protests against Volodymyr Zelenskyy yielded no results – no such reports were published on their webpages (1; 2; 3).
In the past, Myth Detector has also verified other false claims about alleged protests in Ukraine. In those cases too, authentic videos were circulated with altered audio tracks:
- Fabricated Video Claims Protesters in Odesa Asked Putin for Help
- Video Fabrication Claiming a Pro-Russian March Took Place in Ukraine
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