DISINFO: Ukraine uses videos of gay couples to improve their fighting spirit
SUMMARY
Videos circulating around show Ukraine wants to strengthen the fighting spirit using gay couples. It is surprising. If they [Ukraine] want to win the war with such videos, may God help them.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation about the war in Ukraine attempting to denigrate the Armed Forces of Ukraine but playing with a sensitive topic. The claim is part of an ongoing disinformation campaign about Russia’s military buildup on the border with Ukraine.
The claim is false. The anchor of the pro-Kremlin TV channel aired an altered video allegedly depicting a young Ukrainian gay soldier returning home and proposing to his boyfriend and commented that Ukraine wants to increase the fighting spirit using such videos.
The logo of the Ukrainian Land Forces and the phone number of the Military Registration Bureau that appear in the video give a false impression that the video was prepared as an advertisement for recruiting the Ukrainian army.
In fact, the original video was shot in 2012 in the UK by the Coalition for Equal Marriage, an organization that advocates for equal marriage for the LGBTQ+ community, and there are no signs or indications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Read the full debunk of the story in Myth Detector’s articles here and here.
Read our recent article outlining seven recurrent myths around the Russian military buildup near Ukraine.
Apart from that, see a similar disinformation case claiming Ukraine plans to send an LGBT battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to Donbas.