In January 2025, a short video circulated on social networks, the author of which recorded the broadcast of a story about the emergency in Odessa on one of the Ukrainian TV channels. We checked whether such a report was published in reality.
According to the plot, the following story is actively spreading in the Ukrainian-language segment of social networks: a certain native of Odessa found a policeman involved in his mobilization into the Armed Forces of Ukraine, gained his trust, offered to drink together, added sleeping pills to the drink, and when the policeman fell asleep, abused him, thus committing a symbolic act of revenge. The description of the video states that the rapist also turned out to be a deserter.
Many Russian-language media and social media accounts used this video as a reason to once again criticize the mobilization in Ukraine. They talked about the video, in particular, Lenta.ru, "Arguments and facts", Ura.ru, Topnews, as well as Telegram channels "Pozdnyakov 3.0"(486,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Ne.Sugar» (308,000), "Observer"(247,000), Colonelcassad (242,000) and "The world of Mikhail Onufrienko"(242,000).
May 18, 2024 in Ukraine entered a new law on mobilization comes into force. According to this document, all persons liable for military service between the ages of 18 and 60 were required to update their personal data over the next two months at the territorial recruitment center (TCC, the local equivalent of the military registration and enlistment office), at the center for the provision of administrative services, or through a special application. This procedure ignored about 6 million Ukrainians liable for military service, in connection with which in January 2025 the Verkhovna Rada took incentive measures and adopted them in the first reading bill on providing a 50% discount upon payment of a fine for failure to update data. At the same time, a large number of quantity video from different cities of Ukraine about forceful detentions of potential conscripts by TCC officers.
At the top of the viral video you can see the inscription in a running line: “Ukraine today.”
That's what it's called program large Ukrainian TV channel “1 + 1”, and one of its regular presenters is visible in the frame Katerina Nesterenko. On January 10, a fresh update was published on the official YouTube channel of the program. release, whose title began with the words “Shock! SZChshnik (SZCh is a Ukrainian abbreviation meaning unauthorized abandonment of a unit. - Ed.) put the cop to sleep and took revenge for the mobilization.” Despite the loud headline, only a minute was devoted to this topic immediately before the end of the broadcast. At the end of this fragment Nesterenko says: “It is important to understand that this story has not yet appeared anywhere except on TikTok and in Odessa Telegram channels, so I do not presume to say that this is the pure truth. Do you believe that such passions could unfold in Odessa? Write comments, my colleagues and I always read them.”
Manipulation on the part of pro-Russian Telegram channels and media is already noticeable here. Contrary to their retelling of the news, the presenter of “1 + 1” does not present information about the alleged rape of a police officer as a fact, but doubts its veracity, supporting her words with reasonable argumentation. We also note that in the viral recording the video sequence is greatly shifted relative to the original audio track (there were probably reasons for such editing), which is why the movements of the presenter’s lips do not coincide with her speech. At the same time, no footage directly related to the sensational case (surveillance camera footage, interviews with the victim, comments from witnesses) is shown in the “Ukraine Today” story. Instead, soldiers are seen examining something in the woods for a few seconds, then police lights flash. Both, apparently, were used as illustrative material.
“Verified” did not find any examples of the dissemination of information about the Odessa deserter-rapist in any authoritative Ukrainian media. There is no information about the alleged crime on the official resources of Odessa law enforcement agencies.
According to the TGStat service, the spread of the news was initiated by Russian-language military Telegram channels. So, on January 7 at 18:39 Moscow time she appeared in the small channel “Hour Z" The publication was accompanied by a screenshot of a certain Ukrainian-language post, signs of whose existence were not found on any major social network.
Soon, a similar screenshot began to spread across the Internet, but in it the post already looked like a screenshot of the TikTok application running. His posted popular (834,000 subscribers) anonymous channel “Khuyovaya Odessa”*, which previously repeatedly incriminated in spreading fakes about TCC. “Verified” did not find a similar post on TikTok.
Noteworthy is the abnormal popularity of the alleged post - 47,000 reposts with “only” 19,000 likes.
The news from “Fucking Odessa” was picked up by several “yellows” Ukrainian accounts in different social networks, thereby contributing to the fact that the fictitious story, judging by all of the above, ended up in the “Ukraine Today” program. After this, footage from the program, the presenter of which warned viewers about doubts about the reliability of the news, with incorrect explanations started distribute pro-Russian media.
*The channel name contains an obscene word. We apologize to those who find it unpleasant to read.
Cover photo: YouTube channel “Ukraine Today”
Read on topic:
- Are reports true that a mobilized Ukrainian stole €27,000 from the military commissar’s office?
- Is the advertisement of an Odessa store selling false breasts for those who want to avoid mobilization true?
- Is it true that in the Kharkov region they awarded wives who “surrendered” their husbands to the military registration and enlistment office?
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