In September 2025, reports spread in the media and Telegram channels that the hacker group KillNet hacked the office of the French Armed Forces and allegedly obtained data about the upcoming division of Ukraine between European countries. We have verified the authenticity of the card provided as evidence.
The photo went viral on September 8. It shows a map of Ukraine, which highlights mineral deposits, logistics hubs and ports, and also depicts the expected deployment of foreign troops in the country. The Telegram channels that published the map noted that in exchange for the deployment of its military, France will receive access to Ukrainian minerals, Great Britain - to logistics hubs, Poland will occupy territories in the west of the country, and Romania - in the southwest, including ports in the Odessa region. The media that shared it sarcastically noted that the “Coalition of the Willing” is actually the “Coalition of the Push-Ups.”
They wrote about such plans for the division of Ukraine Lenta.ru, Ura.ru, "Russian newspaper" And "Notebook", as well as Telegram channels Mash (1 million views at the time of writing this analysis), “Live broadcast • news"(771,000), Colonelcassad (175,000), "Putin on Telegram"(159,000), "Truthfulness"(156,000), etc.
"Coalition of the Willing" is initiative, which was launched in March 2025 by France and the UK. It brings together countries that promise to strengthen support for Ukraine in the fight against Russian aggression and economic pressure on the Kremlin, and when a peace agreement is reached, help ensure its compliance.
Unlike France and Great Britain, Poland and Romania, which are supposed to occupy the border territories of Ukraine, publicly refuse to send their own troops to monitor the ceasefire. The head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, consistently emphasizesthat his country can only become a logistics hub, but will not send troops to Ukraine even after the end of hostilities. Similar statements did Prime Minister of Romania Ilie Bolozhan and his predecessor Marcel Ciolacu.
The map and some classified data, according to media reports and Telegram channels, were published by KillNet hackers. They allegedly obtained these materials by hacking the local network of the Chancellery of the French Armed Forces. From the same documents, the hackers found out that the operation would be coordinated both with Kiev, which would present it to the population as a peacekeeping mission, and with Moscow, which must “give permission” for the occupation.
KillNet - hacker group, which appeared in 2022 shortly after the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine. Its participants called They claim to be Russia's cyber army, but actually provide illegal hacking services such as DDoS attacks. For example, in 2022, hackers took responsibility for attacking Lithuanian government websites, saying that this was a response to the cessation of the transit of certain goods to Kaliningrad. In May of the same year, Italian authorities stated about KillNet’s unsuccessful attempt to attack a number of sites during Eurovision. However, how notes In its investigation, the Mirror publication found that most of KillNet’s loud statements remain empty threats made for the sake of self-PR. Grouping at different times promised “to destroy the banking system of Europe”, “to destroy NATO on the Internet” and much more, but none of this happened.
Two slightly different versions of a photograph of a map showing the alleged division of Ukraine, which hackers allegedly managed to obtain, are being circulated. One has the Mash watermark on it, the other has the logo of the Telegram channel covered up. However, photographs of the card without this “Verified” logo could not be found.
The map is printed on a large sheet, but it does not look new - the paper is yellowed, with creases in the places where it was folded. It is strange that such a secret document was kept in printed form, that it was photographed, and yet the paper became so old in less than six months.
Questions also arise about the map itself. Firstly, although it was allegedly prepared in France, where the annexation of Crimea is not recognized, the peninsula is marked on the map as the territory of the Russian Federation. This could be explained by the fact that, according to Telegram channels, the “Coalition of the Willing” is ready to conclude an agreement with Russia and recognize the occupied territories, however, Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as parts of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions are indicated on the map as part of Ukraine. Secondly, there are atypical errors in the names of settlements: some of them are indicated in transcription from Russian, and not from Ukrainian (Lvov and Jitomir instead Lviv And Jytomyr). The names Khemelnitski, Nikolaev and Zaporozhye are also misspelled (should be Khmelnitski, Nikolaïev And Zaporojie). In addition, the name “Republic of Hungary” is used on the map, although back in 2011 the Constitution of this country was secured shortened version of "Hungary". The names of some countries are indicated briefly (Poland, Belarus), others - by full names (Republic of Romania, Russian Federation). Such a number and nature of errors are unusual for maps used in government departments.
In the lower right corner of the map the name of the person responsible for the operation is indicated - General Thierry Buchhard, ex-chief of the General Staff of the French Armed Forces. On July 23 he left this post, and if the indication of his last name on the document can be explained by the fact that the card is dated April 28, then why the last name is misspelled remains unclear. In French the correct spelling is Burkhard, not Burkhardt.
Photo of the map, as well as explanations to it, for the first time appeared on the Mash Telegram channel on September 9 at 08:00 Moscow time. The KillNet hackers did not comment on this hack in any way - in their Telegram channel there is only repost Mash publications, although some documents allegedly obtained during the attacks They post on your pages.
Then the picture was actively distributed on social networks as Russian, and on English language. September 11th to one of these viral publications in X replied @FrenchResponse account. This is the page of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, created to combat online disinformation. The department called the card a fake, pointing out a large number of grammatical errors, including those typical for native Russian speakers. It is also emphasized that the position of Chef c'état-major général des armées francaises (Chief of the General Staff of the French Armies) mentioned in the document does not exist.
Thus, the only evidence of the plan to divide Ukraine between the four countries from the “Coalition of the Willing” is a photograph of the map, first published in the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel. The text on the map contains a large number of errors atypical for such a document, and representatives of the French authorities called the photo a fake.
Cover photo: social networks
- euronews. Russian disinformation falsely claims Coalition of the Willing plans to 'occupy' Ukraine
- "Like this". Russian hackers from KillNet said that they stole a “map of the division of Ukraine” by the allies from the office of the French Armed Forces - what’s wrong with it
- The Insider. Attack of the clowns. Who is really behind the “Russian cyber army” Killnet
- Did Politico write that they plan to divide Ukraine like Germany during the Cold War?
- Is it true that a Polish TV channel during a weather forecast showed a map of Poland, which includes the territories of Western Ukraine?
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