In the online space, the fake photo of a "Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier" in a snow-covered trench is circulating again: what's wrong with it

A fake photo depicting a 'soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine' in a snowy trench has once again gone viral. In reality, this photo does not feature a Ukrainian defender.

Moreover, the photo itself is over 10 years old, as reported by fact-checkers from the project 'The Other Side of the News.'

'Ukrainians pay the highest price in the war against Russia for their existence - with their health and lives. The conditions of service for our military may vary, but these are NOT Ukrainian soldiers in the photo. This photo is more than 10 years old,' the statement reads.

Similarly, photos allegedly showing Ukrainian soldiers sleeping in snowdrifts are circulating on social media. These posts are accompanied by a poem:

'Don't be happy that it's beautiful, like in a fairy tale,

The snow has fallen from the clouds,

Because there is someone in a trench, wearing a cold helmet,

Someone's husband or son is freezing...'

Fact-checkers noted that the debunked fake, refuted countless times, is circulating again on social media, and people are once again falling for it en masse.

'This is a photo fake. Anything can happen in war, sometimes you have to sleep in the snow, but it's a shame when Russian occupiers are being passed off as Ukrainian defenders. These are not Ukrainian soldiers in the photo. These photos were taken before the Russian-Ukrainian war, at least ten years ago. They show the so-called Russian special forces training for survival,' they explained.

The author of the quoted poem, Yuliia Pospolita Levchenko, mistakenly illustrated it with photos of Russian occupiers. However, this was an unintentional mistake.

'I thought it was ours (the soldier - ed.). I wrote the poem because last year on this day the first snow fell. And then I searched for photos on Google using the words 'Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier, winter, snow,' and this photo came across my eyes,' she explained.

Previously, this photo has been used to illustrate tearful Ukrainian poetry, posts raising funds for warm clothes for the Ukrainian military, patriotic posts in Georgia 'about the price of peace,' and even news from December 2014 about 'ATO soldiers sleeping in the trenches under a 'blanket' of snow.'

Last year, these photos were also shared on Facebook with the words: 'The price of a free Ukraine.'

'All of these are cyclical fakes, the survivability of which is enviable. Few lies, which are conscientiously refuted every year, continue to live on as if nothing had happened,' the fact-checkers added.

We would like to remind you that there is an online spread of news claiming that Ukrainian youth is allegedly emigrating to the Russian Federation 'in search of better living conditions.' This is an outright lie propagated by the terrorist state itself, which is also waging an information war against Ukraine.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the aggressor country Russia has launched another fake against Ukraine, claiming that Zaluzhnyi and Budanov are 'preparing a coup.' The Russians attempted to disguise the fake news as foreign 'sources,' but they did so extremely poorly.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!