Pro-Russian users of the social network X (formerly Twitter) are distributing a video in which Ukrainian soldiers allegedly burn an effigy of US presidential candidate Donald Trump with the words: “You will never be president again”.

However, this video is definitive, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. The individuals on it are not military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These are Russian actors playing Ukrainian soldiers in captured Ukrainian uniforms, the Center adds. These people in the video do not speak Ukrainian like residents of Ukraine - one can hear a strong Russian accent.

On the one hand, the purpose of this fake is to discredit the Ukrainian Defense Forces, and on the other hand, to spoil Ukrainian-American relations and bipartisan support for Ukraine in the US Congress. Moreover, this is happening against the backdrop of the election campaigns of US presidential candidates.