Category Protected groups & minorities

Fake: Draft Notices Handed Out to Minors in Ukraine

The document being circulated online purported to be a Ukrainian draft notice is a fake. This document does not bear any similarity to an official Ukrainian draft notice, it contains the wrong category names and does not contain pertinent information that is part of a genuine draft notice. The term military commissariat is repeatedly used in the fake document. However, as of 2021 Ukrainian enlistment centers are called Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers. An analysis of the seal used in the document in question also shows that it was doctored and is not the seal of the Bila Tserkva Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center.

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Does this video really show children on the front lines of the war in Ukraine?

Is Ukraine sending children to fight on the front lines of the war? That's what some people on social media are claiming. As proof, they cite a video showing three very young-looking soldiers, which has been circulating online since November 8. It turns out, however, that we could identify two of the three people pictured in the footage and they are young adults - 23 and 25 years old. Furthermore, our team spoke to the NGO Amnesty International, which said that it had no knowledge of documented cases of child soldiers in the Ukrainian Army.

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Debunking claims that Ukraine is using child soldiers – Truth or Fake

The latest pro-Russian narrative in the war in Ukraine is that the Ukrainian army is sending children and teenagers to the frontline. To illustrate this claim, users are posting a video on Twitter that shows three young soldiers, claiming they are children. Our team were able to identify two of the three soldiers in the video. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

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No, a Ukrainian publisher did not issue maps omitting Russian-occupied territories

In a video posted on Russian Telegram accounts, a man claims to have found a geography book for Ukrainian high school students in which the map of Ukraine has been cut in half, missing the areas occupied by Russian troops. But several clues in the video indicate that it is a fake, as confirmed to us by the book's publisher.

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Fake: In 1943, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Crucified Four Children

This photo has nothing to do with the Ukrainian national movement and with the events of the 1943 Volyn tragedy. The children in the photo were killed by their own mother Marianna Dolinska on the night of December 11-12, 1923, in the village of Antoniowka near the Polish city Radom.

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Claim suggests billions should go to SWAT in schools. But there’s more to consider

The U.S. has spent $53 billion on aid to Ukraine as part of a bipartisan effort to oppose Russia's invasion of the fledgling democracy.

More than $3 billion goes toward U.S. schools safety equipment and personnel every year, according to market research analysis and federal figures.

Researchers largely agree that armed officers at K-12 schools do not prevent mass shootings or other gun-related incidents from happening.

Instead, experts recommend threat assessment programs to help school staff identify behavioral warning signs among students and intervene to provide support before violent incidents occur.

Our ruling
A Facebook post claimed that with the $53 billion spent in Ukraine aid, the U.S. "could pay five SWAT members $80,000 each and have them at EVERY school front door."

The U.S. has allocated about $53 billion in aid to Ukraine. And if one wanted to pay this amount to station five SWAT members at every public and private K-12 school in the country, it would also add up to about $53 billion over one year.

But that statement alone lacks context about current security funding for schools and what research shows about the effect of such measures.

More than $2.7 billion is already spent each year on school safety equipment and services nationwide. And this $53 billion, if spent as the claim suggested, would cover just one year of SWAT team coverage for schools.

Additionally, research shows that the presence of armed officers on campuses does not help prevent school shootings from happening.

We rate this claim Half True.

Read MoreClaim suggests billions should go to SWAT in schools. But there’s more to consider

Doctored CNN tweet circulates in posts about ‘child soldiers training in Ukraine’

An image shared in multiple social media posts in different countries purports to show a genuine tweet from CNN about child soldiers in Ukraine. The claim is false; AFP found no evidence that the tweet was ever published by CNN, and the US broadcaster said it was fabricated. The photo in the posts has circulated online since at least 2018 in reports about Ukrainian children learning battlefield skills at a summer camp, and the photographer told AFP it was "never used" by CNN.

Read MoreDoctored CNN tweet circulates in posts about ‘child soldiers training in Ukraine’

No, Putin didn’t free 35,000 children from Ukraine

This unfounded claim originated on a website known for publishing misinformation.

Putin has freed 35,000 children in Ukraine, a country he's invaded, or anywhere else. There are no credible sources nor news reports to support this.

Searching for evidence that Putin saved thousands of children, we only found articles reporting that Russian police jailed several children for leaving flowers at Ukraine's embassy in Moscow.

We rate this post Pants on Fire!

Read MoreNo, Putin didn’t free 35,000 children from Ukraine

CNN did not tweet about children in Ukraine signing up to fight in the war

The tweet was fabricated and did not originate with CNN.

The photo in the post was taken in 2017. It was published in a March 30, 2022, story by CNN about the Azov Battalion of the Ukraine military. In that story, the photo caption says it was taken outside Kyiv on July 14, 2017, and shows "a student at a paramilitary camp for children call(ing) the rank to attention."

The AP confirmed with the photographer, Alex Masi, that it was taken at a "summer camp from 2016-17, where kids learn about the realities of war."

CNN did not tweet about "brave children" in Ukraine signing up to fight Russia, and we rate the claim Pants on Fire!

Read MoreCNN did not tweet about children in Ukraine signing up to fight in the war