In May 2025, Russian media distributed a photo allegedly taken in the Ukrainian city. It is argued that at one of the local attractions, unknown people placed the motto of the Russian military unit. We checked the authenticity of this photo.
On May 17 and 18, Russian media, citing the deputy head of the Main Military-Political Administration of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the commander of the Akhmat special forces, Lieutenant General Alaudinov, published a photo of one of the symbols of the city of Suma-a pre-revolutionary gazebo-with the inscription red paint, which was allegedly left by the vandals. “At the elegant architectural structure - Altank, located on Pokrovskaya Square in the center of Sum, no less elegantly depicted the combat motto of the Akhmat special forces of the Russian Federation Akhmat - Strength!” wrote In his Telegram channel Alaudinov. - Sumy - Russian city! Wait for us, brothers! We have not forgotten about you and we will definitely come! "
This was reported TASS, "Vesti.ru ", "Arguments and facts","Gazeta.ru" Lenta.ru, RT, News.ru, Life, "Tsargrad"And other large editions.
Sumy - Ukrainian Regional Center, located Just 30 km from the border with Russia. At the beginning of a full -scale Russian invasion in February 2022, the city It turned out On the front line, but after the counterattack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it was pushed away. Nevertheless, the sums continue Live under shelling. In the spring of 2025, experts are increasingly They say About the risk of a new advance of the army of the Russian Federation in the Sumy region. Judging by publications In the Russian media, hostilities in the border areas are also conducted by Akhmat special forces.
Historical Altanka counts One of the symbols of Sum. She Located In the very center of the city, in the square on Pokrovskaya Square. About Altanka regularly - in the tourist and cultural context - write The Ukrainian media, however, “verified” did not find traces of news about the pro -Russian graffiti on the gazebo in the local information field, although such an event was supposed to be resonant at least on a city scale. At the same time, only one frame with the gazebo is distributed in the pro -Russian media - the one that Alaudinov published.
FACECHERS from the Ukrainian project Stopfake They turned for a commentary to the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Sumy Region. The representative of the department told our colleagues that there were no appeals from citizens about the pro -Russian graffiti and the information is not true. Moreover, no later than May 19, police examined Altanka and did not find any inscriptions on it. As evidence, they provided Stopfake from a photo. Some difference in the splendor and colors of the crowns of trees suggests that the viral photograph was not taken in May 2025, but earlier.
Let's look more carefully at the inscription allegedly left on the gazebo, and compare the viral picture with another photo From open sources.
It is easy to notice that the contours of almost all letters in the inscription, in addition to the first and last, go through places where there are rather large through holes in the form of stars and rhombuses in the fence. This makes the application of such continuous text impossible. As for the extreme letters, the projection of the arbor is octagonal, so that they had to be turned from a different angle, respectively, the position of the columns. So, as in a viral picture, the inscription could only look if it was already applied to the picture using a photo editor.
Thus, both the data of the Sumy Police and the analysis of the image distributed by pro -Russian resources speak of fake. The first photo distributed already mentioned above Alaudinov on May 17 at 22:47 Moscow time.
Photo on the cover: social networks
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