Pro-Russian users of social networks on Facebook and Twitter are spreading a screenshot allegedly from the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. In a tweet published on December 22, 2018, before the presidential elections in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense allegedly calls Volodymyr Zelenskyi a “naked clown” and an “American puppet”  and urges not to vote for “this piece of shit” because he will “destroy our country with the help of NATO”. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the Reuters media drew attention to the case. This tweet was not found in a Twitter search on a verified account of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and Google. Also, searching for news by keywords in English and Ukrainian in Google did not bring any results. Also, Reuters specialists did not find this tweet in the archived versions of the confirmed Ministry of Defense Twitter profile.

Fact-checkers found out that the screenshot was edited. After all, photos posted on Twitter have rounded edges. However, in the screenshot they are square.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, humiliate Volodymyr Zelenskyi and show that even representatives of the Ukrainian authorities allegedly do not respect him.

Earlier, Detector Media talked about the message that Zelenskyi allegedly sold Ukraine to a Western fund.