A video is being circulated online, purporting to be from UNESCO. It claims that Ukraine has destroyed more monuments than the Taliban in Afghanistan - 5,400 monuments to cultural figures and cultural heritage sites over two years. The Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, Mechtilda Rössler, allegedly stated in this regard: “Such an attitude towards monuments and history is typical of terrorist regimes, but not of European civilization”.

However, UNESCO did not publish such a video on its official resources. Mechtilda Rössler is no longer the director of UNESCO and did not make such a statement. The video was created from photos from open sources, not related to each other. And besides, Mechtilda Rössler is no longer the director of the World Heritage Center.

Using reverse search, it was possible to find out that propagandists used photos from open sources for the fake video. In particular, photos with Taliban militants were published on the official website of the AFP publication in August 2024.

The Taliban is a political and military group whose goal is to liberate Afghanistan from foreign military presence. The movement is made up of many different tribes and peoples inhabiting the country, with different views, including religious ones.

The movement's ideology was based on the religious movement of Islam, Ash'arism, which is part of the Sunni tradition. The Taliban's political program was based on calls to organize life in Afghanistan on the basis of the norms of Islamic law - Sharia - in its radically traditional interpretations. According to the Taliban, anyone who contradicts the ideology of Ash'arism is subject to persecution.

Their rule was characterized by religious intolerance towards non-believers and cruelty - for example, thieves had their hands cut off.