Propaganda media and social media users have begun spreading information that in Ukraine citizens are allegedly being forced to change their Russian surnames to Ukrainian ones through the state service Diia. Propagandists have allegedly published a screenshot of a message in which a user with the surname “Lebediev” is asked to “Ukrainize” it and change into “Lebedenko”, “Lebedinskyi” or “Lebedchuk”. However, this is a fake.

StopFake debunked this fake, finding errors in the screenshot text that indicate a fake. In particular, the use of the Russian letter “e” instead of the Ukrainian “є” and the incorrect gender of the word “surname” as feminine rather than neuter, as well as the use of an unofficial font. These errors are unlikely for an official message from Diia. In addition, StopFake specialists checked the official pages of Diia and did not find any similar initiatives or services for Ukrainization. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, which is responsible for the functioning of Diia, also confirmed that such messages were not sent and are fake.

This fake is yet another attempt by propaganda to discredit the Ukrainian state system and stir up tension in society by spreading false information about the alleged forced imposition of Ukrainian identity on citizens.