In January 2024, a video allegedly filmed in the Polish capital circulated in the media and Telegram channels, in which a man in military uniform passes a paper into the hands of a man in civilian clothes and says that he needs to appear at the Ukrainian military registration and enlistment office. We checked what is actually happening in the video.
The video, about 30 seconds long, judging by the voice-over, was filmed by a woman speaking Ukrainian. In the frame there is a man in a red jacket standing with his back to her, opposite him a man in camouflage clothes is writing something on a tablet, and a khaki car is parked nearby. “Look what's happening! TCC (Ukrainian analogue of military registration and enlistment offices. - Ed.) is already in Warsaw! ”, says the woman. Having demanded that the lady not take it off, the man in military clothing turns to the person standing next to him: “I ask you to leave Poland and appear at your TCC [inaudible] at your place of residence” - and hands him a certain sheet of paper.
Morning of January 10th video published in its Telegram channel, the Ukrainian publication “Strana.ua” (113,000 views at the time of writing this analysis). In the post, the authors draw attention to a detail: the car in the frame has black license plates, like the ones used by the military in Ukraine. “There has been no official confirmation that subpoenas have begun to be served abroad. Social networks do not exclude the possibility that the video could be someone’s joke,” Strana.ua emphasizes.
Soon, notes about this video appeared in the Russian media, they talked about it “RIA Novosti", "News», Lenta.ru, "Moskovsky Komsomolets", Regnum and other publications. The video was also distributed by Telegram channels, including “Ne.Sugar"(292,000 views), "Observer"(214,000), "Truthfulness"(204,000), Voblya (147,000), Rus_criminal (140,000), "Ukraine.ru" (117,000) and "Z-News | Army 🅉 18+ 🔥"(109,000). The authors of most publications in these sources, unlike Strana.ua, do not make a reservation that the video may be staged.
In Ukrainian-language Telegram channels, the video began to spread on January 9 no later than 16:30 Moscow time, but the authors of these posts accompanied the video with much less wordy captions. So, "Joker" (438,000 views) got by with the words "TCC is already near Warsaw" and a smiling emoticon, and "Trash⚡️Ukraine”(1 million views) added to these words the phrase “Poland Battalion, sleep well, this is a communications test.” However, after a couple of hours, the network of Telegram channels “Chasnik” published a video no longer with a laughing, but with a frightened emoji and the caption “Now you can no longer run away” - such recordings appeared in the channels “Chasnik🧄Lviv", "Chasnik🧄Mykolaiv" And "Chasnik🧄Krivy Rig"
The popularity of the video in the Ukrainian-language segment of the Internet is easily explained in the context of the law on changes to the rules of mobilization, which was announced in December 2023 and is now is being considered in the Verkhovna Rada. For several months now, there has been a debate in Ukrainian society about whether it is necessary to return men who are abroad to the front under the threat of sanctions and send them to the front, and what exceptions this measure should include if it is introduced. IN published On December 21, in an interview that Defense Minister Rustem Umerov gave to Die Welt, Bild and Politico, the head of the Ukrainian defense department announced the possible mobilization of compatriots living abroad. Soon representatives of the ministry clarified this statement, noting that plans to forcibly recruit Ukrainians from other countries “are not on the agenda.”
On January 11, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, speaking at a press conference following the negotiations in Tallinn, stated:
“Both women and men of different ages left the country for various reasons. But we were talking about war, no one knew what would happen next. People tried to save their lives. <…> I’m not saying that someone should be on the front line and someone shouldn’t. There are laws, but there are questions of ethics and morality. <…> To pay for the work of one military personnel, six to eight taxpayers are needed. We respect all people who work, pay taxes and thus contribute to the defense of the state. But if a person is abroad, he is of mobilization age, he is not on the front line and does not pay taxes, he left Ukraine in violation of the law, then we have questions.”
The viral video was actually filmed in Warsaw, testify search results using Google Street View. The captured events unfold in the very center of the Polish capital, in the parking lot near the National Opera building. However, “Verified” was unable to find information in statements of Ukrainian officials and messages from responsible departments that TCC representatives began to serve subpoenas on men from Ukraine living outside the country.
Publication "Gvara Media" notesthat the solution to issues related to military registration of Ukrainian citizens permanently residing abroad is regulated by a special resolution government of the country, adopted in December 2022. This document, in particular, states that foreign diplomatic missions only inform about the beginning of conscription for military service, and also transfer data on citizens who have registered with the consulate to the relevant TCC and other departments. As for the actions of embassies and consulates in wartime, their task is designated as “facilitating the return of military personnel and reservists to Ukraine.” How exactly diplomats should and/or can implement this responsibility is not specified in the document.
Since the video went viral in the Ukrainian-language segment of social networks, journalists began looking for a man in military uniform who allegedly issued a summons to a Ukrainian living in Warsaw. He turned out to be a veteran of the fighting in Donbass, former special forces soldier Pavel Yakimchuk, who is now undergoing rehabilitation in Poland after being wounded. In an interview with the Ukrainian Channel Five, the military explainedthat he did not serve any subpoenas, and the man in a red jacket standing next to him in the recording is his childhood friend.
The video, according to Yakimchuk, was filmed on January 6, and the man explains his idea as follows:
“The idea was to scare people who left [Ukraine] illegally. The only thing is, I couldn’t say in the video who it was addressed to, because it would have been clear that it was a fake. The idea was to scare people who left illegally, so that they would not go around thinking that since they “escaped” abroad thanks to corruption, they can already feel safe. No, they can't. Stand! Walk and look around!
Thus, some Ukrainian, and after them numerous Russian media, distributed a fake video, providing it with incorrect captions. The video cannot serve as proof that citizens of this country began to be drafted into the army outside of Ukraine. The Ukrainian veteran who directed the video and played the main role in it, although he partially supports such an initiative, did not serve a summons on his compatriot who moved to Poland.
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