Is there a mandatory payment of 100 hryvnia for residents in Ukraine to access a bomb shelter during an air alert? No, that's not true: The Department of Press and Information of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence told Lead Stories that the claim is false, categorizing it as disinformation. Furthermore, Lead Stories found no evidence supporting this claim.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on the TikTok account @evgenii__mihaylovskiy79 on December 14, 2023. It featured a notice attached to a door, displaying the claim. It was also shared by the accounts @limanwww (archived here), and @world.news032 (archived here). Russian media outlets and websites have spread this claim, as seen here (archived here), here (archived here), and here (archived here).
The text overlay on the video (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) said:
Business, nothing personal. Entrance to the bomb shelter is 100 hryvnia.
A notice on the door (translated from Ukrainian to English by Lead Stories staff) read:
Place for shelter. 100 hryvnia and get the opportunity to enter a shelter during an alert. Contact for communication and payment of duties: ... [The provided contacts are blurred and unreadable].
The female voice in the video said (as translated from Ukrainian to English):
They've completely lost it. Paying to get into a shelter during an alert. Well done!
Below is how the post appeared on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Dec 25 11:23:31 2023 UTC)
The Department of Press and Information of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence emailed Lead Stories on December 22, 2023 (as translated from Ukrainian to English) in response to questions about the claim. The email stated:
We express our respect and inform you that all these dubious claims that spread in the Russian mass media and social networks are part of an information campaign organized by the Russians against Ukraine and Ukraine's Armed Forces.
Lead Stories found no information about these measures on the official website of Ukraine's Defence Ministry, using the phrase "100 hryvnia to access a bomb shelter" (archived here) despite searching extensively on the website and its associated social media accounts.
Lead Stories also determined the video lacks information on the time and location of the filmed footage and its authenticity is not verified by independent sources.
A search for the phrases "In Ukraine, residents must pay 100 hryvnia to access a bomb shelter" (archived here) and "In Ukraine, an announcement placed stating residents must pay 100 hryvnia to access a bomb shelter" (archived here) conducted on December 25, 2023, using Google News' index of credible news sites also did not yield any evidence-based reports on these claims. If this were the case, it would be news of significant importance reported in international media.
