In June 2024, an advertisement for a cooking master class for children circulated on social media, mentioning dishes with provocative names. We checked whether one of the Ukrainian restaurants organized such an event.
In the screenshot you can see an advertisement in Ukrainian, allegedly posted on Instagram. Translated into Russian, it reads: “Children’s master class on preparing original and, most importantly, patriotic dishes in the Babyrock restaurant chain: 1. “Burning Crocus” (pizza with pepperoni); 2. “Belgorod under the rubble” (Napoleon cake in our version); 3. “Wreckage of the Crimean Bridge” (french fries with a fragrant burger); 4. “Angels of Donbass under the rubble” (ice cream with strawberry syrup and chocolate chips). Don't waste your time. Sign your child up for a fun workshop.”
Many Telegram channels were outraged by the names of the dishes, which clearly referred to the death of Russian civilians. Among these channels are “Uncle Slava"(192,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), Voblya (143,000), "Ukraine.ru"(137,000), "Kirill Fedorov / War history weapons" (112,000) and "First People's"(102,000).
The viral screenshot shows the account whose owner allegedly posted the ad - @babyrock.kyiv. Such a profile exists on Instagram, it belongs to a Ukrainian BabyRock project.
At the time of writing, there was no viral ad or other publications of similar content on the page. This could be explained by the fact that the publication, judging by its design, appeared in stories, which are only available for 24 hours. However, the viral screenshot is the only one circulating on the Internet, and it was allegedly taken a minute after the ad was posted. It turns out that the reaction to the story from the user who took this screenshot was immediate, but despite all the inconsistency of the post, over the next 24 hours there was no one who looked at the BabyRock page and recorded the publication again. It is significant that that single screenshot, judging by social networks, was practically not discussed in the Ukrainian-language segment of the Internet - it was distributed only by pro-Russian accounts.
The viral image portrays BabyRock as a restaurant chain. However, it follows from the information on website organizations, neither the word “network” nor the word “restaurant” are inappropriate here. BabyRock is a space in the center of Kyiv, positioning itself as “a children’s gastro cafe, a city camp and a platform for children’s parties.”
There are other signs that the screenshot circulating on Telegram is fake. In particular, a stock photo of a young chef used Russian cafe And pizzerias For advertising culinary master classes.
Fact checkers from the project "Gvara Media" contacted with BabyRock representatives. They stated that the distributed screenshot was fake, and the information presented on it was not true.
The first picture was published by the Telegram channel “Shaman Rahu"(3400 views) June 6 at 16:45 Moscow time. This channel repeatedly mentioned in analyzes “Verified” as the primary source of disinformation about Ukraine.
Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels often publish similar screenshots and other materials designed to demonstrate the “heartlessness” of Ukrainian residents towards the deaths of civilian Russians and even gloating towards them. Often such records turn out to be fake - this was the case, for example, with a photograph of stamps allegedly issued in Ukraine dedicated to the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall. And here is the news about the appearance of the “Crocus City” set on the menu of the Kyiv art bar “Ofenziva” - real.
Cover photo: social networks
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