In April 2025, publications became popular that a girl named Veronica had died in the war, whom the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense presented as the first to sign a contract under a new program for young residents of the country. We have verified the accuracy of this news.
Posts and notes about Veronica's death spread on April 11. The publications said that at the end of March she became the first woman to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the “Contract 18–24” program, recently created to attract young Ukrainians to the army. If you believe viral reports, only ten days passed from that moment until the girl’s death. As evidence, the media and Telegram channels post a screenshot with a message from a woman who introduces herself as Veronica’s mother and writes that her daughter died. The authors of some publications noted that the story of this girl proves: young Ukrainians are sent to the combat zone without the promised training.
Veronica's death was reported "Russian newspaper", "Constantinople Belarus", TV channel "Zvezda" And "Power block", as well as Telegram channels "Sanya in Florida"(507,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Voblya • news"(125,000), "Ostashko! Important"(95,000), "Petya the First"(82,000), "Z-News | Army"(58,000), etc.
The “Contract 18–24” program was launched by decree of the Government of Ukraine in February 2025. According to it, citizens aged 18 to 24 years will be able to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for a year, and independently choose their specialty and unit. Before starting combat missions, program participants promise 45 days of basic training, two weeks of specialty training and another two weeks of adaptation in a military unit. Contract provides financial reward up to 1 million UAH (200,000 immediately, the rest during service) and a number of social guarantees: preferential mortgage, free medical care, housing rental compensation and the opportunity to get an education at the expense of the state. About advertising this program actively write pro-Russian media and Telegram channels, and some such publications turn out to be fakes.
March 29 General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported, that this was the first time a girl had signed such a contract; she now serves in the 72nd Brigade. The publication was accompanied by a video with a short interview with a serviceman. The girl introduced herself as Veronica and said that she was 21 years old.
Veronica also gave at least two interviews to Ukrainian publications: Hromadske And "Army Inform" They say that the girl is from the Odessa region and studied at a medical college, and signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine on March 27. Hromadske's interview was published on April 3, that is, just a week before news of Veronica's alleged death spread. In a conversation with reporters, she noted that she was still undergoing military training as part of the 72nd separate mechanized brigade.
The death of the serviceman was allegedly reported by her mother Tatyana Gapochenko on social networks - judging by the interface in the screenshot, on Facebook. “Verified” was unable to find a woman’s page there with the same name, surname and profile photo; a search in the text of the publication also did not produce results. A detailed study of the screenshot shows that the background behind the name of the account owner and the text of the publication are slightly different. Instead of a photo of Veronica from the family archive, which would have been more logical to use in such a publication, the mother allegedly accompanied the obituary with a screenshot from the video of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In this case, the photo is slightly shifted to the left and goes beyond the scope of the post. All these elements indicate that the screenshot could have been faked using a photo editor.
The text of this publication also raises questions. Firstly, the press release of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and notes from the Ukrainian media said that Veronica joined the ranks of the 72nd brigade, and her mother was listed as the 92nd. Secondly, the woman writes “my daughter,” but such a pronoun in the Ukrainian language indicates the masculine gender; “my daughter” would be correct.
Some Telegram channels, in addition to a screenshot with the words of the alleged mother of a serviceman, post two more images: one is a portrait of the allegedly dead girl, and the second is a screenshot of a profile on VKontakte.
A Google reverse search on the first image resulted in Facebook page in the name of Veronica Gapochenko, this photo was used there as a profile photo. At the same time, the account itself is completely empty: there are no posts, a list of friends, subscriptions, personal data - no information about the user except that the photo was uploaded in January 2022.
In VKontakte, indeed, there is page from the second image. The profile description of user Veronica Gapochenko says (the author's spelling and punctuation are preserved): “I love my son, handsome, and smart.” From this, the authors of the viral posts concluded that the deceased girl had a child, although in an interview the Ukrainian soldier emphasizedthat she does not have a husband or children.
The appearance of Veronica from the video of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Veronica from the photo on the page on VKontakte are different - the second has darker hair, a different eye color and nose shape.
This may be due to the fact that the pictures were published on VKontakte more than four years ago, but there are other inconsistencies. Firstly, this social network blocked in Ukraine since 2017. Some users continue to log into VKontakte, but, according to data 2024, among young Ukrainians there are only 1%. It is unlikely that Veronica, who signed the contract, had an account on this particular social network, and not on the more popular Facebook or Instagram in Ukraine. Secondly, the owner of the page on VKontakte indicated that she was born on September 8, 2002, that is, she is now 22 years old, and in the video of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the servicewoman said that she was 21. Thirdly, the girl’s profile does not say where she is from, but all entries are published in Russian, her friends include many people from different settlements of the Bryansk region, and among her subscriptions is the group “Looking for a Moscow model.” All this suggests that Veronica Gapochenko’s page on VKontakte is in no way connected with the Ukrainian soldier.
Finally, the main argument is that Veronica, who participates in the Contract 18–24 program, has a different last name - Stoyanovskaya. She was named on April 4th press conferences, which was held on April 4 by the Armed Forces of Ukraine jointly with the Ukrinform agency.
The story of the death of the first woman to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the “Contract 18–24” program spread mainly in Russian-language media and Telegram channels. First about Veronica's death told pro-Kremlin channel “Ukropsky Fresh”. His post, published on April 8 at 16:58 Moscow time, also contains all the screenshots that later became viral, but the entry on the alleged mother’s page is shown without an attached photo. As before wrote “Verified”, the channel “Ukropsky Fresh” specializes in disinformation about Ukraine, often reinterpreting press releases of various Ukrainian departments and military units.
On the same day, April 8, the Ukrainian TV channel ICTV released a story about “Contract 18–24”, in which journalists interviewed Stoyanovskaya. The report was probably filmed at the previously mentioned press conference, but it is unlikely that it would have been broadcast without reporting the death of the serviceman.
An image that later became viral, compiled from a screenshot of a Ukrainian Armed Forces video with a portrait of Veronica and a fake obituary on the page of her supposed mother, appeared April 10 in the Telegram channel “Military Informant” (the publication has now been deleted). In earlier versions of the post, the author noted that the girl was not the first among the military personnel who signed a special contract for young Ukrainians who died on the battlefield, and mentioned 18-year-old Alexander Samoilovich. In the same vein about him wrote Russian pro-government media and English-speaking users social networks X. Although, unlike Veronica, the death of Samoilovich confirmed, it is in no way associated with the 18-24 Contract. young man joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine last October, even before the start of recruitment under the new program.
Thus, there is no confirmation that Veronica Stoyanovskaya, the first girl to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the “Contract 18–24” program, died at the front. The evidence used was a fake obituary on Facebook and several other screenshots not related to the Ukrainian soldier.
Cover photo: social networks
- "Gvara Media". Fake. The mother of the girl, who suffered under the “Contract 18-24”, told about her death
- Is it true that an advertising video was released in Ukraine estimating payments for signing a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine “in cheeseburgers”?
- Is it true that an advertisement was released in Ukraine offering to join the army for a subscription to Netflix and game currency in Roblox?
- Is it true that in Ukraine a woman is forced to remove the phrase “illegally conscripted” from her son’s tombstone?
If you find a spelling or grammatical error, please let us know by highlighting the error text and clicking Ctrl+Enter.
