Russian fake: Alleged remains of Ukrainian drone found in Lithuania

The Kremlin has once again used TikTok as a propaganda tool.

Russian media, Telegram channels, and bots on the social media network X are spreading a video allegedly filmed in Lithuania. According to the posts, fragments of a drone supposedly with inscriptions in Ukrainian were found in the country.

This is fake. The video is overlaid with heavy graphics, and the footage changes rapidly, making it nearly impossible to determine the location where it was filmed. The editing style, with fast cuts and changes of angle, suggests it was deliberately staged rather than amateur footage.

The video originated from a TikTok account under the nickname katelynltu. This is a fake account created specifically to publish this clip. The account contains only six low-quality videos with just a few dozen views.

The avatar also indicates the account is a bot: it shows a girl against a winter landscape, an image that appears on at least two other TikTok accounts, which suggests it is used to generate fake profiles.

The video also tags Alexey Stefanov, a correspondent for the Russian state propaganda channel Russia Today. He had previously worked in the Baltic States until the Latvian government expelled him in 2024. He was also sentenced to one year in prison in Latvia for spreading propaganda.

In reality, since late July, Russia has been conducting drone attacks on the Baltic States and Eastern Europe. On July 28, a Russian drone launched from Belarus violated Lithuanian airspace. The Lithuanian government later confirmed it was a deliberate launch.

On August 1, another Russian UAV again entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus. On the night of September 9-10, Russia attacked Poland with nearly 20 drones. On September 13, yet another Russian UAV was detected in Romanian airspace.

This fabricated story about a so-called Ukrainian drone in Lithuania is intended to distract the international community from Russia's real drone attacks against NATO countries.

Russian propagandists previously falsified crime reports to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Andrii Olenin