Have Ukrainian border guards been allowed to open fire on those trying to flee the country and use First Person View (FPV) drones to kill them? No, that's not true: Ukraine's State Border Guard Service denied this claim to Lead Stories, saying it was intended to intimidate civilians and discredit the service, which is bound by law to use lethal force only against occupying or invading forces.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on March 5, 2024, on TikTok by @alexandr_turner (archived here) with the caption (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff):
Ukrainian border guards have been allowed to open fire on those attempting to flee the country and use FPV drones to kill them.
This is how the post appeared on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue, March 12 11:04:12 2024 UTC)
Social media users (archived here) and pro-Kremlin media are circulating a photo (archived here) featuring a banner (translated from Ukrainian to English by Lead Stories staff) that read:
Warning! In case of an illegal border crossing, officers of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine will use weapons, including FPV drones.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine confirmed to Lead Stories in an email on March 9, 2024, that the claim was false and provided a link (archived here) to the Ukrainian State Center for Countering Disinformation (archived here). The Center said the claim was aimed at spreading disinformation to intimidate Ukrainian civilians and discredit the country's border guard service.
Based on a search of laws (archived here) governing the border guard service (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff): "the type of coercive measures and the intensity of its use are determined by taking into account the specific situation, the nature of the offense, and the individual characteristics of the person who committed or is committing the offense," so in effect, border guard officers can use force against an individual if they are threatened, but it does not give them authority to use lethal force against people seeking to flee the country.
According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, existing legislation also allows border guard forces to utilize weapons, including FPV drones, exclusively against occupying forces and to help repulse illegal armed formations from entering Ukraine, saying:
Ukrainian border guards act exclusively within the current legislation, and weapons and FPV-drones they use exclusively against the occupiers, which they could feel in the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
FPV drones (archived here) are a frequently utilized and impactful component of Ukraine's arsenal and have become a feared weapon.
