A screenshot allegedly taken from a parents’ chat group was widely circulated on social media, claiming that “Saint Nicholas does not give presents to ‘Moscow-tongued’ children” and that a child had been humiliated because of the language they spoke.

The claim was highlighted by the Center for Strategic Communications.

The Department of Education and Culture of the Lviv City Council conducted an investigation and officially stated that no such incident occurred and that it could not have happened.

“In all municipal preschool institutions in Lviv, children are treated equally, regardless of the language they or their parents speak at home”, the department stated.

The head of the department, Andriy Zakaliuk, emphasized that children cannot and should not be held responsible for their parents’ views or language preferences. The spread of such fakes is a typical Russian tactic aimed at fueling hostility, distrust, and division within Ukrainian society.

The city council urged citizens not to share unverified information and to rely only on official sources.

Such information “injections” (fakes) about children allegedly being humiliated over language in Lviv kindergartens or schools are intended to create the image of “ruthless Russophobic western Ukrainians” who supposedly punish even small children for speaking Russian. The purpose is to provoke outrage among Russians and pro-Russian audiences in other regions of Ukraine (and abroad), encouraging them to quarrel and turn against one another.

Each such fake serves as “evidence” for both domestic Russian audiences and international audiences (particularly in countries of the Global South) that the war is supposedly about “protecting children from Nazis”.