Russian fake news: Speaker Stefanchuk to cut off heating for 'draft dodgers'
Videos circulating on Telegram, Facebook, X, and Instagram feature what appears to be Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk. In the clip, he allegedly claims that due to the difficult energy situation, heating will be supplied only to families whose men are serving in Ukraine's Defense Forces. Wives of "draft dodgers," he supposedly says, should "keep warm from their husbands."
This is fake news. The video was fully generated using artificial intelligence, including deepfake technology. According to the AI-content detection service Hive Moderation, the video was identified as artificially created with a probability of 98.6%.
The source of the fake was an anonymous Instagram account with only three videos, the first of which was posted on October 15, 2025.
In addition, Russian media outlets and Telegram channels are spreading a photo allegedly taken in the city of Sumy. It shows an announcement supposedly issued by a local recruitment center offering food packages to women in exchange for reporting men who are evading military service.
This, too, is fake news. The Sumy Regional Recruitment and Social Support Center made no such announcements. No similar posts appear on its official Facebook page, and official materials never use the RRSSC abbreviation seen on the fake poster. The hoax was also debunked by staff at the Sumy recruitment center.
These fabrications aim to discredit Ukrainian authorities and mobilization agencies and to sow discord within Ukrainian society during wartime.
Russian propagandists earlier spread a false claim alleging that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "transfers" $50 million each month to a Saudi bank.
Andriy Olenin
