In September 2024, the reports dispersed in Runet that in the city in the west of Ukraine the church building, selected from the UOC, was converted into the laundry washing. We checked the truthfulness of this story.

The viral picture, which serves as evidence of the statement, captures the bell tower, where the entrance is decorated with garlands of blue and white balloons. A banner with the Ukrainian-language inscription “laundry” is also visible above the door. ” In the Telegram channel of the Russian TV presenter Olesya Loseva (more than 15,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) The photograph was commented as follows: “In Lutsk, the Orthodox Church, selected from the UOC, was redone to the laundry room. The dance of freaks continues. ”

According to the TGSTAT service, by the time this analysis of this analysis, about 120 similar records appeared in Telegram, in the amount of about 560,000 views. Similar posts published channels "Petya the first"(81,000 views),"Infantryman"(45 000), Nina Vatt (40,000), "In fact in Kharkov"(39,000),"The sun"(34,000),"Ivan Okhlobystin"(29,000),"In fact in Kherson"(26,000) and others. Dozens of similar publications are posted"VKontakte", Where one of the posts Sicked more than 40,000 views. Messages about the placement of the laundry in the Church of the UOC also Meet on news sites and in social networks X.

There are two main Orthodox churches in Ukraine: Autocephalous The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (PCU) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). Although in May 2022 the last She said On its independence from the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church (Russian Orthodox Church), on August 20, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Accepted The law on the ban on the activities of religious organizations related to the Russian Orthodox Church, and after four days the law signed President of the country Vladimir Zelensky. Despite the fact that formally the text does not say about the ban on the activities of the UOC, in Ukraine many called His law on the ban on the Moscow Church. According to experts, the implementation of this decision of the Ukrainian authorities (after the "transition period") may delay for years due to court litigation.

To posts about the transformation of the UOC building into a laundry, Facture from Ukrainian projects drew attention to the laundry Stopfake And "Ґvara Medіa". Using a reverse search by image, they found The original photowhich differs from the viral picture. It turned out that on the image of the inscription from the inscription on the banner, the word “social” was drawn and several balloons were drawn from the inscription in the Telegram channels.

There was an original picture published On Facebook* on the page of the Terebovlyansky City Council at the end of 2023. In that publication it was reported that on November 17 in the belfry of the church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit Terebovlya cities In the Ternopil region, with the support of the Caritas-Termnopil charity foundation, the social laundry was opened. According to the press release, the parishioners studied the needs of the community and came to the conclusion that in the vicinity there was not enough laundry for free Lonely pensioners and other vulnerable categories of the population will be able to use. Then the TV channel "Supriln Ternopil" published reportageWhere the laundry was shown from the inside. The priest Ivan Yavorsky explained to reporters that the belfry would continue to fulfill her function, and for those in need, they allocated one of the utility rooms.

In addition, the church of the descent of the Holy Spirit is not Orthodox, but Greekatolic. The parish in the city of Terebovlya was Founded Back in 2001, and the construction of the temple and the bell tower took place, according to official documents, in 2010-2011.

The earliest appearance of fake photography “verified” was found in the Telegram channel ”Sheikh Tamir”(41,000 views), where the picture was published on September 6, 2024 at 14:05 Moscow time and was deleted at 16:12. At 14:06 and 14:07 The same publications came out in the channels Zanoza (13,000 views) and "Shaman Rahu"(5600). All these three resource repeatedly mentioned In the analysis “verified” and often appeared as the primary sources of the spread of fakes. Moreover, in November 2023 "Sheikh Tamir" already Published Similar misinformation. Then a video appeared on which Halloween’s celebration in one of the churches of PC in Lutsk was supposedly shown. In fact, the video was Filmed Long before this holiday in the Greek Catholic Church in Lviv, and the creators of Fake changed the sound path.

Thus, in September 2024, the building of the UOC Temple in Lutsk was not taken away and did not turn into laundry rooms. In fact, the viral photo that was edited was taken in November 2023. The picture captures the social laundry, open in the bell tower of the Greekatolic Church in Terebozh.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: social networks

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

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