Information is spreading online that Ukrainians allegedly stand in long lines at exchange offices, trying to exchange hryvnia. Users distributing photographs of queues claim that this is due to news of a possible default. Some Kyiv exchange offices no longer seem to have currency, as propagandists note. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. The information that Ukrainians are queuing en masse in front of exchange offices is not true. To create panic in Ukraine, attackers publish made-up comments about queues along with archival or edited photographs.

The photo of the exchanger with the caption “No currency” was indeed edited. The original photo was posted on Google maps of the Kyiv exchange office Obmen24 two years ago. The attackers changed the announcement about the need to check banknotes at the cash register with the inscription “No currency”.

Another photograph, which shows a line outside an A-Bank branch, does not relate to current events at all. The original of this photo belongs to Suspilne Chernivtsi. It was published in July 2022 and shows the queue for applying for payments from international organizations. The publication of the Suspilne Chernivtsi says that A-Bank helps to fill out an application in installments, but this can also be done independently online.

Reports about Ukraine's impending default, according to many experts, are also untrue. In August 2022, Ukraine received a two-year deferment on loans - this term was determined based on the fact that no one knew how long the war would last. Thus, Ukraine must agree with foreign creditors before August 1 on the restructuring of the state debt. Today, the International Monetary Fund is actively lobbying for a new deferment for Ukraine.

“Ukraine does not intend to pay according to the schedule that was agreed upon two years ago. The IMF allows not to comply with this schedule and has blessed Ukraine for new negotiations with creditors on a new payment schedule”, explains Oleksandr Parashchiy, head of the analytical department at Concorde Capital, in a commentary for BBC Ukraine.

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev also notes that there will be no default in Ukraine, because there are no grounds for this.

Thus, propagandists are spreading panic among Ukrainians amid tensions caused by Russian aggression against Ukraine.