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Did Ukrainian television channel 1+1, citing Ukraine's Defence Ministry, acknowledge that over a million soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have died or gone missing? No, that's not true: The Department of Press and Information of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence told Lead Stories it was disinformation. Channel 1+1, contacted by Lead Stories, also added that no such information had been given on Channel 1+1.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on the TikTok account @evgenii__mihaylovskiy79 on November 26, 2023. It was also shared by the accounts @tawo_bob (archived here), and @alexandr_turner (archived here). Pro-Kremlin media outlets have disseminated the claim, as shown here and here.
The text overlay of the video (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) states:
Finally, also on Ukrainian TV, it has been acknowledged that more than a million soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have perished.
Below is how the post appeared on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Nov 30 11:12:10 2023 UTC)
The video's author presents footage in which a man supposedly recorded a television screen with the logo of the Ukrainian television channel 1+1 visible, and is heard asking a woman called Ira to come and see what the TV is showing. On the screen, a scrolling banner displays the message (translated from Ukrainian to English by Lead Stories staff):
Ministry of Defence: During the full-scale war, 1,126,652 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have died or gone missing.
The voice heard in the video says (as translated):
Ira, Ira, come here. Trying for the second time to catch it. Over a million of ours have perished. Come here.
Lead Stories found no such video on 1+1 TV Channel's official website:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Nov 30 15:36:10 2023 UTC)
A search for the phrases "Ukrainian TV channel "1+1" acknowledged that over a million soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have died or gone missing" (archived here) conducted on November 30, 2023, using Google News' index of thousands of credible news sites, did not find any result that corroborated the claim.
On December 1, 2023, the International Communications Manager of the 1+1 television channel, Oleksandr Ishchuk, responded to Lead Stories's inquiry regarding the video, saying it had been edited and contained false information:
[... ] This video is an outright fake. Russian media are actively disseminating the information in an attempt to disorient society. Please note that there is NO moving line on the 1+1 Marathon TV channel, and the false report contains grammar mistakes [...] Moreover, there is no story with such a design and information on the official pages of 1+1 Media. We urge everyone to observe information hygiene and not to spread this fake news in order not to help the enemy spread disinformation. Please use official sources of 1+1 Media and carefully check the information you find online.
The Department of Press and Information of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, also addressing an inquiry by Lead Stories, wrote by email on November 29, 2023:
We express our respect and inform you that the statements spread in the Russian mass media and social networks are disinformation aimed at discrediting Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We also recommend that you consider contacting the Center for Countering Disinformation. (National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine)
On November 26, 2023, Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatoliy Shtefan published a post (archived here) on his official Facebook account where he drew attention to this video and stated that it was fake.
Lead Stories found no evidence that Ukraine's Defence Ministry had acknowledged that over a million soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have died or gone missing. No such information was found on Ukraine's Defence Ministry's official website or its social media accounts.
Lead Stories also reached out to the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation for a comment and will also update this article if a response is received.
Lastly, a search for the phrase "Ukraine's Defence Ministry acknowledged over a million soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have died or gone missing" (archived here) was conducted on November 30, 2023, using Google News' index of thousands of credible news sites, and did not reveal any evidence-based reports on the claim.
Обновления:
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2023-12-04T11:20:06Z 2023-12-04T11:20:06Z Updated the text to include a response by 1+1 Channel regarding the video
