On January 12-13, Russian-speaking Facebook users (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) shared a video in which a journalist talks about sexual violence committed by a Ukrainian soldier against a police officer. According to the presenter, the incident took place in Odessa. The man went to the police station, found the police officer involved in his mobilization, first offered him a drink, and after drinking, raped him.
In addition to social media, this information was also spread by Russian state media (1, 2, 3).
A manipulated video is being circulated in which a journalist talks about a Ukrainian soldier raping a police officer involved in his mobilization. In reality, the video is from an episode of the Ukrainian TV program “UKRAЇNA СЬОГОДНІ,” where the presenter, Katerina Nesterenko, narrates this story in the “Fictional Stories” segment. The journalist states that the story is false and has not been disseminated by reliable sources.
The TV show “UKRAЇНА СЬОГОДНІ” (“Ukraine Today”) belongs to the Ukrainian channel 1+1. The video shared on social networks shows its studio and one of the presenters, Katerina Nesterenko. In the broadcast aired on January 10, the journalist talks about Ukrainian news and, at the end, reviews Russian propaganda.
In the episode shared on Facebook, Katerina Nesterenko starts the segment with the phrase (28:16): “…and then the segment ‘Fictional Stories,’ which cannot be ignored,” and begins narrating the story about a man in Odessa who went to a police station, found the officer involved in his mobilization, and sexually assaulted him.
During her speech, Nesterenko clarified that while it is difficult to forget such a story, it has not been disseminated anywhere except on TikTok and Telegram channels. Therefore, she cannot confirm that the story is true.
After the story spread widely on Russian Telegram channels, the Ukrainian online publication “Детектор медіа” (“Media Detector”) examined the video. They considered the dissemination of the video with incomplete context, portraying it as if the journalist was narrating a real event, to be manipulative. According to the publication, the manipulative video was circulated exclusively among Russian-speaking Telegram users. In particular, as of January 15, it had been published on fourteen propaganda Telegram channels.
Video manipulations about Ukraine are frequently spread. Such videos are disseminated for various purposes, including portraying Ukraine’s losses in the war, discrediting leaders, or showcasing disagreements between Ukraine and the West. The Myth Detector systematically checks video manipulations and fabrications spread on social networks.
About the sources:
One of the disseminators of the video manipulation is Георгий Кушиташвили (Georgy Kushitashvili). He posts pro-Russian messages in Russian and is known for his anti-Ukrainian sentiments. This account has spread numerous false reports, which have later been verified by the Myth Detector.
Another account, Oleksii Evgenovich, has also been previously noticed for spreading disinformation.
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
