Propagandists have manipulated the audio track in a video from the national telethon.
Russian propaganda platforms and Telegram bots are circulating a fabricated video of the alleged final news program “United. Main Events,” which is broadcast as part of the “United News” national telethon. In the altered footage, Inter TV channel host Oleksii Fadieiev is falsely portrayed as saying that military-age men abroad are having their documents checked for legal status, with some even being returned to Ukraine. The video also falsely claims that lists of those eligible for return have surfaced and that some individuals have already received summonses. According to the fabricated report, a list of all those to be returned is supposedly available on an unnamed “state portal.”
This claim is entirely false. The actual final news program from January 9, 2025, made no mention of deportations or summonses. While the presenter in the frame is indeed wearing a gray jacket, white shirt, and yellow tie, there was no discussion of such events.
Russian propagandists extracted a segment from the original broadcast and, using artificial intelligence, replaced the audio with a fake voice mimicking the presenter. As a result, the visual does not match the presenter’s facial expressions. Additionally, upon closer examination of the fabricated video, one can notice that the sentences sound disjointed and incomplete, deviating from the structured delivery of a legitimate news broadcast.
This is not the first time Russian propaganda has falsified reports from the “United News” telethon. Previously, propagandists created a deepfake video in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was falsely depicted as ordering the military to retreat from Avdiivka. Other fabricated stories include false claims that Ukraine has lost over a million people in the war, that fallen soldiers will be buried in biocapsules, and that Russian prisoners are being held in concentration camps.
Such disinformation campaigns aim to discredit Ukrainian authorities and diplomatic missions while inciting panic over mobilization among citizens abroad.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has repeatedly stated that summonses will not be issued abroad.
Previously, Russian propaganda also spread the false claim that Ukrainian car license plates were being torn off in Slovakia in protest against the suspension of gas transit from Russia.
Andriy Olenin
Source: Russian propaganda spreads fake about men receiving summonses abroad and being deported to Ukraine
