Russian Telegram channels shared the fake news that the first group of volunteers serving under special contracts for volunteers aged 18-24 from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine died in Kursk Oblast.
Our very own video report was used in the making of this fake piece—so, let’s get to debunking.
What happened?
“Contract 18-24” is a program that was introduced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence on Feb 11, 2025, to prompt more young people to voluntarily join the army. They are trained by experienced combat brigades, and provided with financial incentives and social benefits.
On Mar 20, Telegram channels Ukraina.ru (archive) and Ukropskyi fresh (archive), which regularly spread Russian propaganda, shared the “news” that the first group of contracted volunteer soldiers died in Kursk Oblast. As evidence, the news has a video with Gwara Media’s logo (that’s us.)
“The youth voluntarily joined the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade and trained in Kharkiv Oblast, and after they were promised to go to the prepared rear positions where they would have to hold defense. But, in conclusion, all assault fighters that went through training were sent out to Kursk Oblast as a first combat experience, where their gloryless fighter’s path was ended,” Telegram authors wrote.
Analysis
The message says the soldiers were in Kharkiv Oblast and then died in Sudzha on their “first combat experience.”
However, the first trainees under this program with the 92nd Brigade only started training on March 16, as we learned during our work trip to their training center.
Gwara’s video for social media, released on March 17, is what Telegram authors used for their fake as “evidence” for this news.
The official website for project “Contract 18-24” of the Defence Ministry of Ukraine says that recruits’ basic training continues for 45 days, and then they’ll go through 14 days of specialized training—and just as many days will be spent adapting to their military unit.
So, currently, the first group of new recruits is in the starting stage of basic training in the training center.
The official resources of the 92nd Brigade has reported that only on March 18 these recruits took an oath of devotion to the Ukrainian people [army’s military oath — ed.]
So, the news spread by the Telegram channel about the first group of recruits under the “Contract 18-24” program dying in Kursk Oblast is fake, manufactured from our video report.
It was released on the Telegram channel on March 20, and it’s known that, on March 16, these recruits had just started their training in Kharkiv Oblast.
Conclusion: Fake
Author: Olha Yakovleva
English translation: Yana Sliemzina, Nazar Hlamazda
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