Russian propaganda fakes graffiti caricature of Zelensky in false video from French TV channel

Russian Telegram channels are circulating screenshots, purportedly from a TF1 news program, showing graffiti depicting French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, and a dog on a leash, supposedly with the face of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This is a fake. The photo was manipulated using a graphics editor, with a fabricated caricature of Zelensky added.

To give the image a sense of “authenticity,” propagandists inserted the TF1 logo and icons commonly used in the channel’s TF1 Info Shorts section, which distributes short news videos about world events. However, no such video, featuring a “caricature” of Zelensky, was ever published on TF1’s website.

Earlier this week, the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, citing the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, debunked a similar fake about an alleged graffiti caricature of Zelensky in Miami. Russian propagandists falsely claimed that Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera had released this “news.” The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry clarified that the photo was digitally altered to create a misleading impression of negative international sentiment towards Ukraine.

Russian propaganda frequently spreads fake graffiti depicting President Zelensky in major cities worldwide. These fabricated “caricatures” are part of an ongoing effort to tarnish Zelensky’s image and promote the narrative that Western societies and governments allegedly do not support Ukraine.

Ukrinform’s fact-checking team has already debunked numerous similar fakes, including a fake video of graffiti against Ukraine’s European integration, supposedly filmed in Brussels, and fake photos showing graffiti in Warsaw and Paris.

Russian propaganda previously spread fake videos about Zelensky to both German-speaking and English-speaking audiences.

Andriy Olenin