Russia spreads fake news about Ukrainian ad teaching children to 'report' relatives for speaking Russian

Russian propaganda has fabricated a video from Ukrainian children's TV channel

Russian media outlets, Telegram channels, and bots on social media platforms X, YouTube, and Reddit are circulating an animated video featuring the logo of the Ukrainian children's TV channel PlusPlus. The video depicts a boy wearing Ukrainian-themed clothing who, upon hearing his sister listen to a Russian-language song, reaches for a phone -- seemingly to report her to law enforcement. The screen then displays the hotline number for Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU).

In posts accompanying the video, propagandists falsely claim that Ukraine is broadcasting a TV ad targeting children, encouraging them to report family members for listening to Russian-language music.

This is a complete fabrication. The video has never aired on PlusPlus or any other Ukrainian media outlet.

PlusPlus is a dedicated children's channel that exclusively broadcasts cartoons and animated series. The station's programming does not include any such advertisement. Instead, its content consists of popular international and Ukrainian animated shows, featuring a graphic style distinct from that used in the fake video.

Additionally, in the upper-right corner of the fake video, there is a QR code purportedly for donations to the military. However, PlusPlus does not typically display such QR codes during commercial breaks.

This fake video was created using video editing tools and widely disseminated as part of Russia's ongoing efforts to manipulate language issues -- a key element of the Kremlin's strategy to undermine Ukraine's independence.

Russia frequently fabricates stories about alleged propaganda targeting Ukrainian children. This aligns with the Kremlin's long-standing false narrative that Ukraine as a nation does not truly exist and that Ukrainian identity is being artificially imposed. Russian propaganda also repeatedly pushes the notion of a "totalitarian and Nazi" regime in Ukraine, where children are supposedly forced to adopt an "artificial" Ukrainian language and culture.

Previously, Russian propagandists spread false claims that Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science "recommended" dressing preschoolers as Stepan Bandera.

Andriy Olenin