False information is spreading on social media claiming that a photo of Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, allegedly taken inside the damaged Cabinet of Ministers building, was digitally manipulated. Anonymous users assert that she supposedly inserted her face into a photo taken in a different building using photo-editing software. In reality, this is a fake.

This was reported by VoxCheck.

The photo is authentic, and the interior shown in the prime minister’s image matches footage taken by foreign diplomats and journalists who visited the damaged building after the missile strike.

On the night of 7 September 2025, Russian forces carried out a massive attack on Kyiv, during which an Iskander-9M727 missile hit the Cabinet of Ministers building. This was the first direct strike on a government building since the start of the full-scale war. No one was injured, but the upper floors suffered significant damage, and fuel from the missile tanks ignited, causing a fire inside the building.

After the attack, the Ukrainian government organized tours of the damaged premises for foreign diplomats. Photos from these visits show the same office as in Yuliia Svyrydenko’s picture. Identical features include the window openings with characteristic damage, scorched brick walls, destroyed floor slabs, and a passageway in the wall.

The authenticity of the photo was confirmed, among others, by the Ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, who also published images from the very same room. Foreign journalists likewise documented the office from different angles in their reports.

Thus, claims that the photo is fake are unfounded – it is authentic and accurately reflects the real condition of the damaged government building after the Russian missile strike.