At the end of September 2023, several photos of street graffiti were distributed on social networks: all of them are associated with Ukraine, but the English name of the country was replaced with the word urine. We have verified the authenticity of these photographs.
In total, four pictures from three locations went viral on the Internet. The first photo shows a man lying in urine in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, the second shows a portrait of Vladimir Zelensky, and the third and fourth show the Ukrainian flag on the same building. All the drawings contain the phrase Glory to Urine in one form or another (most often in captions it is translated as “Glory to urine” or “Glory to urine”). Most often it is reported that the pictures were taken somewhere in Europe. For example, Telegram channels talked about this “Scott Ritter on Telegram"(99,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Semyon Pegov | War Gonzo"(95,000), "Russian spring Z"(74,000), "Russia 2.0"(45,000), "Prigozhin on Telegram"(20,000), "Kedmi on Telegram | Main" (19,000), "Denazification UA" (17,000), "Alexander Kots | SVO" (13,000) and "New Testament"(11,000). At the same time, the authors of some publications clarify that we are talking about Germany - such posts appeared in the channels “Observer"(94,000 views), "Political navigator" (78,000) and "Tsargrad TV"(9300). Similar publications can be found on VKontakte, for example in the verified public pages of the patriotic media platform “Conservative" and TV channel "Constantinople", as well as in others communities.
The authors of many posts with viral photographs believe that the artists responsible for the new anti-Ukrainian street art were inspired by the video that began to be distributed on the Internet on September 21. Then, many Russian media and social networks claimed that during Zelensky’s arrival in New York, due to a technical error, the slogan Glory to Urine was accidentally shown on the big screen instead of Glory to Ukraine (“Glory to Ukraine”). "Verified" did analysis of that video revealed that it was fabricated.
In those posts where it is stated that the graffiti was made in German cities, remind and about graffiti with Zelensky eating the hand of a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier, which allegedly appeared in mid-September on one of the houses in Berlin. "Verified" it's arrived concluded that this street art never appeared on the building, but was digitally superimposed onto a photo. Moreover, the picture itself was taken not in the German capital, but in Warsaw.
The new viral photos with the phrase Glory to Ukraine do not show any landmarks or prominent signs, and most of the posts do not contain any additional information other than indicating Europe or Germany. However, on one of the buildings we noticed a sign with the number 45, which is similar to those hanging on buildings in Paris. Previously, “Verified” talked about three fake graffiti, two of which were allegedly painted in the French capital in November 2022 and September 2023. On the first one Zelensky was depicted as sucking up money black hole, and on the second - in the image cannibaleating the leg of a Ukrainian soldier. The third drawing, which in February 2023 was passed off as having appeared in Brussels, depicted Zelensky devouring tanks. We and our foreign fact-checking colleagues established that all three street art were created in a computer editor, and the photographs that became the basis of those fakes were taken in the eastern suburbs of Paris - Saint-Mande and Montreuil.
"Verified" suggested that the new graffiti could be superimposed on photos taken in approximately the same areas, so using Google Maps we checked several houses with the number 45 in the area of the Saint-Mandé metro station. It turned out that the first photo done at the address rue de Lagny, 45 in another eastern suburb of Paris - Vincennes.
Using the Google Street View function, we established locations from other photographs. In the second photo imprinted house number 4 on Belfort street, also located in Vincennes.
The third and fourth photos were taken at intersection streets Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Do Comun - captured building located in Montreuil.
“Verified” did not find a single mention of such graffiti either in the local media or in online communities of residents of those areas. The administration of Vincennes told us that all the photographs from the graffiti were fakes. As evidence, we were sent photographs from the same locations where street art supposedly should be, but neither drawings nor signs of their removal are visible there. Unfortunately, one of the photographs sent shows a different wall (however, the photographer was at the right address), so below we present only two photographs.
For clarity, we have compiled routes to all six places where fake drawings allegedly appeared in November 2022, February and September 2023. According to the maps Google And "Yandex", the total path between them is about 1.7 km, and it will take a little over 20 minutes to cover it on foot. At the time of publication of this analysis, it is unknown whether all the photographs were taken at the same time (this may not be the case, since in the “Brussels” photograph people are dressed in warm clothes, and in one of the new ones a person is visible in a T-shirt) or whether the author of the photographs (or a group of authors) lives nearby.
According to the TGStat service, three photos of fake graffiti with the phrase Glory to Urine went viral after a post in the Telegram channel of the presenter of Channel One. Olesya Loseva (17,000 views), which was released on September 29 at 14:47 Moscow time. A few hours later, the fourth photo simultaneously appeared in Telegram channels “Shkvarka News"(6100 views) and "Shkvarka 2.0"(1000).
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: collage “Verified” / social networks
- Is it true that the founder of Verified and the France 24 journalist created fake graffiti and satirical magazine covers?
- Is it true that a poster in support of Ukraine with the inscription “Go forward” was placed in the Paris metro?
- Is it true that such a “photo greeting of Ukraine on the upcoming Independence Day” was posted in France?
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