A photo of what is supposedly the cover of the German magazine Handelsblatt is being circulated on social networks. The cover shows a road sign with the inscription “Kursk” and the headline “Ukrainian soldiers have occupied Russian territory”. The sign shows crosses buried in the ground and Ukrainian military helmets thrown over the crosses.

Fact-checkers of the Georgian project MythDetector have established that such a cover does not exist. The fake photo published has the publication date: “Saturday-Sunday, August 23/24/25”. In fact, the cover of the real issue, published on that day, shows Armin Pappergeri, director of the largest German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall. In addition, the distributed photo incorrectly indicates the issue number; currently, only issue 163 has been published, not 164, as indicated in the fake cover.

We have documented fakes many times, whether they involve fake graffiti, foreign magazine covers/newspaper columns, or advertising videos. In this way, propagandists aim to show that their rhetoric (for example, that Zelenskyi is hated by the whole world) is also repeated in the West. This may make readers think that the public is really unhappy with Ukraine. And especially when the authors use elements of popular culture, implying that people are laughing at the situation in Ukraine and that the Ukrainian agenda is a reason for Europe to laugh.