Did devils and other evil spirits dance in a Ukrainian church, and was this broadcast on Ukrainian television on Christmas Eve? No, that's not true: The video is an advertising campaign by the Ukrainian online gambling platform Cosmolot.
The claim appeared in a video (no longer available, but archived here) on TikTok by nata__789 (the account is no longer available) on January 7, 2024. The text on the video (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) read:
Ukrainian TV on Orthodox Christmas Eve showed devils dancing in church and wishing death to Russians. I have no words...🤬 Who are you 🇺🇦??? Who possessed you 😳
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jan 9 07:55:16 2024 UTC)
The first licensed Ukrainian online casino, Cosmolot began its ironic anti-Russian advertising campaign (archived here) in 2022 with the introduction of the devil as the main character, who can be seen in all the project's videos. The video used on the TikTok account was posted on Cosmolot on January 1, 2024 (archived here) with the caption "Happy New Year, friends."
On December 5, 2023, Rastislav Rigo, head of brand at Cosmolot, explained (archived here) in his interview with Oboz.ua the use of negative sentiment toward Russians in the company's advertising (as translated):
So we are not doing any Russophobic advertising. We are spreading through advertising campaigns what Ukrainians actually wish the enemy and what he deserves. This is a response to their actions not only during the war, but also to what they did many centuries ago.
In 2023, the company released a new series of patriotic commercials called Cooking Victory, continuing the theme of hell from the previous campaigns. The project aims to raise the morale of Ukrainians with a humorous approach.
Ukrainian choreographer Konstantin Gordienko trained (archived here) the team of professional dancers for the campaign.
