Russian fake news: Ukraine raising Western funds for gender affirmation surgery

Russians used name and logo of We Support LGBTQ Ukraine Fund for forgery

Russian media outlets and Telegram channels report that the Ukrainian organization Support LGBTQ Ukraine Fund, with the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, launched a fundraiser for sex reassignment surgery for residents of Ukraine, including hormone therapy for children. This was allegedly stated on the fund's website. Zelensky's appeal to the residents of Western countries with a request to participate in the collection of funds and stories of people who need help have allegedly been posted on the website too. Among them are two stories of children aged 11 and 9 who allegedly need drugs for hormone therapy and plan to change their gender in the future.

This is fake news. The propagandists invented a fundraiser and faked a website to make it look like the fund's official website. They also used the organization's official name and logo.

Interestingly, the fund's official website was created back in May 2022, while its fake version appeared only on December 18, 2023.

On the official website of the We Support LGBTQ Ukraine Fund, there is no information about any initiative to collect funds for gender-affirming surgery.

Andrew Kushnir, the founder of the organization, said in a comment to Ukrinform that the foundation had not started such a campaign, but that their brand, name and logo had been used to create a fake website.

"Our fund is located in Canada and collects funds for seven verified non-governmental organizations in Ukraine that work with representatives of the LGBTQ+ community. We make donations to help meet the needs of LGBTQ+ Ukrainians who are in danger," he added.

Russian propaganda earlier spread fake news about the sale of Ukrainian children abroad.

Dmytro Badrak