Russian fake: Most Europeans are against support for Ukraine

Russian Telegram channels and bots on social media platforms X and Facebook shared a video that was allegedly created by the EU's statistical office Eurostat. The clip presents the alleged results of a public opinion poll of Europeans regarding the unity of citizens in Russia and Ukraine. In particular, it is noted that 77% of respondents "believe" that Russians are united, whereas only 19% of surveyed citizens are confident in the unity of Ukrainians. According to the "survey" distributed by propagandists, only 38% of citizens of EU countries are in favor of further support for Ukraine, while 62% are against it.

This is a fake. Such a video was not published on Eurostat's official website or the organization's social media accounts. The latest video posted on October 31 was dedicated to Halloween. It tells about the five countries that produced the most pumpkins and gourds in 2023.

One of the organization's logos is missing in the fake video shared by propagandists. It is located in the lower right corner of all Eurostat media products - from videos to tables with statistics.

It should be noted that the tasks of Eurostat are forecasts and statistical analysis, essential for decision-making by other EU institutions, as well as coordinating the activities of statistical organizations of member countries of the bloc with the aim of standardizing research methods and consolidating the data of these organizations. That is, the organization itself does not conduct surveys.

As for Europeans' support for Ukraine, according to an official survey commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations and conducted in 15 countries, as of July 2024, more than 50% of respondents supported increasing the supply of arms and ammunition to Ukraine.

Through the fakes of its propagandists, Russia is promoting the narrative that support for Ukraine from Western countries and their citizens is allegedly decreasing and that Ukraine's allies are less willing to help the country in its fight against the aggressor. Using such pseudo-surveys, Moscow is also trying to show that Europe allegedly considers Russian society to be more united against the background of the war than Ukrainian society.

According to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in January 2024, most Ukrainians (69%) believe that Ukrainian citizens are overcoming contradictions and are on the way to a united political nation.

According to sociologists, the attempt to organize internal discord and polarize Ukrainians along possible lines of division remains one of Russia's main tools in its war against Ukraine.

Russian propaganda earlier spread a fake story that Ukrainians were allegedly buying housing in the Kharkiv region to "legitimately" end up in Russia.

Andriy Olenin