Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels said that the deputy commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Vadym Sukharevskyi, accused Elon Musk of Starlink disruption that occurred a day after the Kursk operation began. Our fact-checking department investigated that “news.”
What happened?
On August 22, Telegram-channel Kostian Cat (“Кот Костян – официальный канал”) and Shaman Rakh (“Шаман Раху©️”) spread the news that the deputy commander-in-chief of the AFU Vadym Sukharevskyi accused Elon Musk that satellite network Starlink stopped working 24 hours after Ukraine launched the Kursk operation. As evidence for this news, a Telegram post offered a video from what seems to be a Ukrainian platform, United24, with its logo and English subtitles.
The video says, “Syrskyi’s deputy accused Musk of setting a “trap” in the Kursk region. Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi reported that the Starlink satellite network stopped working. 24 hours after the start of the Kursk operation. This was the reason why vital time that should have become crucial was lost. A communication breakdown prevented the army from advancing to the nuclear power plant and the city of Kursk. The loss of time caused the operation to slow down and stagnate. Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi is sure that the shutdown of Starlink systems was malicious. And Elon Musk is behind it.”
Analysis
The video spread by these Telegram channels features a United24 logo. For the first step, we analyzed this company’s official resources. That’s a global fundraising platform created on May 22 within President Zelenskyy’s initiative to raise costs to support Ukraine during the full-scale war.
Its official resources are its official website, profiles on Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and a Telegram channel. Because the video in the post has English subtitles, we checked United24’s social media profiles targeting English-speaking audiences (United24’s Telegram and Facebook are made for Ukrainian-speaking audiences.)
The graphic design of United24’s Instagram Reels has recently changed. After August 7, they stopped putting a black background behind the subtitles on videos and changed the font.
We compared the way subtitles look on the original videos of the platform (before and after changes) with subtitles included in a video put on Telegram channels and saw that the design of titles used doesn’t correspond with any of the official United24 designs before and after August 7.
Videos United24 posted on the YouTube platform, both standard videos and Shorts, resemble a Telegram video in graphics a little. But the font and the subtitle placement on the video differ.
The graphic design of the subtitles, the size of the logo, and its placement on videos posted on X are different from those on the Telegram video.
In addition, when United24 uses content created by other organizations (photos, videos), it indicates its source. Like here:
In the video used in Telegram posts, the shot with Sukharevskyi has no credits, though it’s not a United24 photo.
So, we’ve analyzed the video and figured out that it has all the features of being forged. We wrote to United24 and asked to confirm or deny it’s their video. In response, we’ve got confirmation that the video is fake.
“Hi! Thank you for your inquiry and questions. The video mentioned in your letter is fake, it was not created or shared by UNITED24.”
As such, we’re dealing with another fake video, which aims to discredit the Armed Forces’ Kursk operation.
Conclusion: Fake
Author: Vladyslav Herasymenko
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