Russians have faked a video featuring Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna
Russian Telegram channels are circulating a video with the logo of the Freedom TV channel. In the clip, an audio commentary is supposedly given by Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olga Stefanishyna. She allegedly tells journalists that she wants to legally ban women of childbearing age — specifically those aged 18 to 27 — from leaving the country, supposedly to “preserve the gene pool.”
This is fake news. First of all, Freedom TV broadcasts in Russian and is aimed at providing truthful information about the war to residents of occupied territories and the Russian Federation. In the fake video, both the speaker and the journalists speak Ukrainian.
Secondly, the TV hosts who are supposedly interviewing Stefanishyna are actually employees of the Rada TV channel — Nazar Dovhyi and Kateryna Fedotenko — who take part in the United News national news marathon. Moreover, Fedotenko left her position back in 2024. Freedom TV employs entirely different hosts and does not participate in the news marathon.
Thirdly, the audio with Stefanishyna’s alleged statement was generated using artificial intelligence. The recording is of poor quality, with background noise, and some words are not pronounced clearly.
This is yet another attempt by Russian sources to discredit the Ukrainian government and instill fear among Ukrainian women.
Earlier, Russian propaganda spread a fake claim alleging that Ukrainian universities were encouraging students to sign a “contract 18-24.”
Andriy Olenin
Source: Russian fake: Ukraine wants to ban women aged 18 to 27 from traveling abroad
