Did a Ukrainian TV host "ask all unmarried women to move in with unmarried men" in order to save on energy and heating in a recent broadcast shared on social media? No, that's not true: In an email to Lead Stories, the TV channel said that such an announcement was never made or broadcast on the network.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok by lora621308 on December 11, 2023. The text on the video (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) read:
Because of the energy deficit associated with power cuts in more than half a thousand of residential areas in Ukraine, Ukrainian TV 'asks all unmarried women to move in with unmarried men.' Big yikes! 🤣🤣🤣
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Dec 18 07:04:36 2023 UTC)
A reverse image search conducted on Yandex on December 18, 2023 (archived here), returned images showing the same anchorwoman in different news reports on the Ukrainian First City TV Channel. Kryvyi Rih. The excerpt used in the TikTok video seems to have originated from a news broadcast aired on November 7, 2023, which shows the same anchorwoman, wearing the same outfit and hairstyle, and the same background.
However, in the original broadcast, the background often shows additional footage from different reports on various topics, while in the video on TikTok it remains the same. In addition, the original broadcast covered various topics, from Russian attacks on Ukraine and Russian losses to elevator maintenance in the city, the spread of Hepatitis A and a campaign against burning dry leaves. There was no mention of special measures to be taken to save energy, thus suggesting the video on TikTok may have been edited or digitally created.
In an email to Lead Stories dated December 15, 2023, a representative of First City TV Channel Kryvyi Rih denied that the channel ever announced anything similar during any of their broadcasts. This is the comment that Lead Stories received (translated from Ukrainian to English by Lead Stories staff):
The TV channel has not aired a story or a news broadcast on the given topic. The excerpt, without the TV channel logo, was posted exclusively on TikTok, where jokes are common and the Ukrainian audience perceived it and understood it correctly - as a joke.
The video was originally shared by user Aussie Cossack (real name Simeon Boikov), leader of the Australian Cossacks group that promotes pro-Russian government sentiments and known for his pro-Russian propaganda videos. A Sydney, Australia, court issued an arrest warrant for Boikov for allegedly assaulting a pro-Ukrainian protester.
