In November 2024, a video appeared in the media and Telegram channels: in it, The Ukrainian military is allegedly destroying the US president-elect's books because they are dissatisfied with his plan to end the war. We have verified the authenticity of this video.
On November 26, a video lasting more than a minute went viral showing people in military uniform burning Donald Trump's "The Art of the Deal" books and a hat with his slogan "Make America great again." The soldiers speak Ukrainian, and one of them wears the insignia of the Azov brigade. At the same time, the unknown person filming the video calls Trump a fake president, a coward and a traitor because of his peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. The resources that distributed the video indicate that this is just one of the episodes of a flash mob launched in Ukraine against the elected US President.
The video was published Russian And Belarusian Media, as well as Telegram channels "Sanya in Florida"(500,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Russia now"(198,000), "Uncle Slava"(191,000), "Putin on Telegram" (173,000), "Voblya • news"(150,000), "Ukraine.ru"(148,000), etc.
Donald Trump, early November winner presidential race in the United States, during the election campaign promised in case of victory, stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. Such statements were accompanied by hints that the US role in supporting Kyiv would be reconsidered. For example, in September Trump named Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is the greatest trader in history, who, every time he visits the United States, allegedly leaves with at least $60 billion (this not like that). Trump inauguration appointed as of January 20, until then Joe Biden continues to hold the presidency. Representatives of his administration have already statedthat in the last weeks of their work they will increase support for Kyiv and pressure on Moscow.
Trump has already announcedthat after the inauguration he will appoint a special representative for Ukraine and Russia. The president-elect settled on the candidacy of 80-year-old retired general Keith Kellogg. In the spring of this year published his plan to resolve the conflict on the website of the America First think tank, which is close to Trump. According to it, the United States will continue to supply Kyiv with weapons to deter new Russian attacks, but only on the condition that Ukraine agrees to a diplomatic solution to the conflict. It is also proposed to postpone the question of Ukraine's accession to NATO in exchange for security guarantees. Russia, in turn, can count on partial lifting of sanctions, but energy resources sold by Moscow will be subject to duties to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Although this document Maybe become the starting point for the Trump administration, the elected president himself has not publicly presented a single version of his own (and comparable in scope) version of the peace plan. In the media, citing sources only appeared information that those close to the politician offer him different settlement options, on which he makes certain comments.
On the eve of the US presidential elections, Zelensky presented his “victory plan” - both to Trump and his opponent Kamala Harris, and after the Republican’s victory, one of the first congratulated his. Some Ukrainians, who feared cuts in aid from a key ally, have this election outcome called anxiety. However, “Verified” did not find information in the Ukrainian press about mass flash mobs against Trump or peace plans proposed by his associates. The only evidence is a video circulated on Russian-language Telegram channels in which the military burns the books of an American politician.
In the second second of the video, one of the men can see the insignia of “Azov,” a tactical unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, on his right hand. It was formed in May 2014 as a battalion of the special purpose police patrol service under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Already in September of the same year, “Azov” was reorganized into a regiment, and in November it was transferred to the National Guard of Ukraine, becoming a military unit. The chevron from the video resembles the 2014 emblem, in the foreground of which there was a symbol resembling the Wolfsangel rune (representatives of Azov denied this connection), and in the background is the “black sun” symbol. This chevron became the reason for accusations that Azov adheres to neo-Nazi ideology, which are actively replicated and Russian propaganda.
When the battalion was converted into a regiment in September 2014, the chevron was updated. From the modern Azov emblem, the black sun symbol was removed from the background and the main element was modified, which is said to symbolizes the idea of a nation (crossed letters I and N).
However, spoke Ukrainian nationalist Alexey Reins, old-style chevrons are still allowed to be used by Azov veterans. They are also still available buy on marketplaces. It turns out that Ukrainian soldiers can theoretically wear a patch with outdated unit symbols, but it has not been officially used for more than ten years. In addition, the viral video shows that the patch with the emblem is attached to the right sleeve, although rules When wearing a military uniform, the unit's emblem should be located on the left.
At the seventh second of the video, another element is visible: a combined arms chevron of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is attached to the chest of a soldier holding a machine gun. Firstly, according to the same rules, it should be on the right sleeve. And secondly, the trident on the chevron is different from officially approved: it is larger, and the teeth are more elongated and pointed.
The emblem of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the chest of one soldier and the old Azov chevron on the sleeve of another are the only signs by which the characters in the video are asked to identify the Ukrainian military. No faces or other insignia are visible on the recording. Fact checkers from the Vox Ukraine project pay attentionthat the man commenting on his actions in the video speaks Ukrainian with a noticeable Russian accent. Among the characteristic mistakes he made: the pronunciation of the sound [a] in place of the letter “o” in an unstressed syllable (according to the rules of Ukrainian phonetics, the sound [o] is preserved there) and the sound [i] in place of the Ukrainian letter “i” (read as “s”).
Earliest publication with a viral video, which was discovered by “Verified”, appeared in the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel “Voice of Mordor” on November 26 at 13:40 Moscow time. This channel mentioned in many of our analyzes and has repeatedly become the primary source of unreliable information about Ukraine and Ukrainians. Thus, “Voice of Mordor” talked about Zelensky’s purchase transactions Cyprus casino or mansion of Charles III, but all evidence of such acquisitions turned out to be forged.
Thus, reports of a mass action in which Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers allegedly burn Trump’s books in protest against his peace plan are confirmed by only one video, which first appeared in a dubious Russian-language source. However, many details of this video indicate that it is staged.
Cover photo: social networks
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