At the turn of January and February 2025, messages circulated on the Internet that a Ukrainian artist spoke about the tragedy that occurred in the skies over Washington, but at the same time noted that he did not feel sympathy for “those from Russia.” We have verified the accuracy of this story.

Shortly after a passenger plane collided with a military helicopter near Washington airport on the night of January 29-30, a screenshot of a story allegedly posted on Instagram by Ukrainian rapper Alexey Potapenko, better known under the pseudonym Potap, was circulated on the RuNet. In many publications with a viral image it says: “Ukrainian singer Potap, after a plane crash in the USA, wrote: “I express my sympathy to everyone except those from Russia.”

According to the TGStat service, at the time of writing this analysis, there were about 210 similar Russian-language posts on Telegram, with a total of almost 2 million views. Among the most popular are channel recordings “Uncle Slava"(186,000 views), "Observer"(152,000), "Ukraine.ru"(148,000), Voblya (134,000), "Emergency / Crimea"(106,000), "Heavenly"(106,000), Nina Vatt (79,000), "Tough of the day" (74,000) and "Gasparyan"(65,000). Posts with a viral screenshot can also be found on Facebook (examples here And here), X and VKontakte (here And here). The media also wrote that Potap does not sympathize with the Russians whose loved ones were on board that plane: News.ru (twice), Life.ru, EADaily, "Moscow region today", "Radio 1" And "Utro.ru"

Photo: screenshots of posts from the TGStat service

January 30 at approximately 5 am Moscow time, a PSA Airlines passenger plane collided with a US Army helicopter on approach to Washington's Reagan Airport, and both aircraft fell into the Potomac River. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the plane, and three American military personnel in the helicopter. According to authorities, the collision left all 67 people died. It is reported that among the passengers on the plane were athletes and coaches returning from the US Figure Skating Championships. Among them are former Russian figure skaters, including ex-world champions in pairs skating Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who have worked in America since the late 1990s. By words US President Donald Trump, American authorities will facilitate the transfer of the remains of dead Russians to their homeland.

The first posts about Potap’s alleged story appeared only on the afternoon of January 31st. They contained a screenshot allegedly taken on the musician’s Instagram page. The artist's intended publication consists of a collage with photo from the scene of the disaster and an image of a burning candle with the caption “Rest in Peace.” At the top and bottom of the stories there is text written in Ukrainian and English, respectively: “A terrible tragedy! I often fly around America. I sympathize with everyone, except those who are from Russia” (the name of the country is written in small letters. - Ed.).”

The editors of “Verified” first drew attention to posts about the alleged story of the Ukrainian rapper on January 31 at 21:43. By the time of the scandalous recording in instagram there was no musician. At the same time, we also did not find publications in social networks and the media that would claim that Potap deleted this post, that is, theoretically, it should have been available within 24 hours from the moment of publication. At the time of our check, another story was posted on the artist’s page in support of the track Trumpumpum from his new project Slavic Balagan. It was published approximately between 16:00 and 17:00.

Photo: screenshot “Verified” (January 31 at 22:05) / @realpotap (Instagram)

It is noteworthy that all the publications found by Verified about Potap’s alleged anti-Russian post contained the same screenshot, allegedly taken just two minutes after publication. The identity of the screenshots is also confirmed by the same mark on the story duration bar. However, not a single source provides a link to the original publication. It seems unlikely that just one screenshot of a resonant post by a musician on Instagram would go viral on the Internet. signed more than 1.8 million users. The Ukrainian media also did not write about Potap’s stories.

Finally, we tried to find the earliest posts with a viral screenshot. According to the TGStat service, the first such entry appeared on January 31 at 16:19 in the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel “Kryminforum 🇿 🇴 🇻"(13,000 views). This channel repeatedly featured in “Verified” analyzes as a distributor and sometimes the primary source of fakes, including fabricated photos and videos. Half an hour later, at 16:50, a similar post was published on the Telegram channel “Bear"(10,000 views). This resource is one of the record holders in terms of quantity mentions in our publications.

It is worth noting that Potap had previously was becoming the hero of a similar fake. So, on May 30, 2024, shortly after the news about the death of actress Anastasia Zavorotnyuk, the media and Telegram channels (including those mentioned above “Kryminforum 🇿 🇴 🇻" And "Bear") also distributed a screenshot of an Instagram story in which the rapper allegedly mocked the deceased artist. In that case, since the story spread wider, Potap himself made several refutations.

Thus, according to available open data, “Verified” can claim with a high degree of confidence that the viral screenshot of Potap’s stories with selective condolences in connection with the plane crash in Washington was fabricated. The same screenshot is being circulated online, which originally appeared on pro-Kremlin Telegram channels that have been repeatedly caught publishing disinformation.

Cover photo: collage from social networks