Pro-Russian Telegram channels have circulated a post about a Ukrainian amputating his healthy leg as a symbolic act of solidarity with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. A report with the Euronews logo was attached to the news as proof. Our fact-checking department has debunked the post.
What happened
On September 9, the Telegram channel “Kot Kostyan — the official channel,” which systematically spreads Russian propaganda, posted a story stating that a Ukrainian artist in Poland had his healthy leg amputated below the knee, proving that he suffers from a rare psychological disease, “non-perception of the integrity of his own body.” As evidence, a report allegedly from the Euronews TV channel was attached to the post.
“The ‘artist’ Mykyta Kushnir did this to express solidarity with the soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who lost their limbs in the war. Kushnir hoped to earn 1 million euros to help the Armed Forces with his performance, but was only able to raise 3,000 euros,” the post says.
The post was spread by other pro-Russian Telegram channels, such as Shaman Rahu, Olesya Loseva, and Russian-Canadian News, as well as by users of the social network X: @koelnnemez, @SaintSarmat, and @Elena150204.
Analysis
The first step in our investigation was to search for information about the artist Mykyta Kushnir. However, we could not find any data about him, his alleged voluntary amputation, or any fundraising efforts for the Ukrainian Armed Forces online.
Next, since the post included a video with the Euronews logo as evidence, we examined the official resources of this channel.
Euronews is an international 24-hour European news channel that broadcasts in 12 languages: Arabic, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.
The captions in the video shared by propagandists are in English, so we turned to the English-language editorial team of Euronews. Their official platforms include a website and social media accounts on Х, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Flipboard, Dailymotion, Linkedin, and YouTube.
After analyzing the video content on these platforms, particularly those that use the 9:16 video format (such as Instagram and Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok), we found that the graphic design used in the propaganda video does indeed resemble that of Euronews video content on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
However, in such videos, Euronews only uses captions at the beginning to describe the subject in the opening frame. We did not find any examples of these captions used throughout the entire video on any of the platforms. Short video edits are typically dynamic, featuring direct speech and live footage.
After analyzing the content on these platforms and failing to find any news with the relevant context, we broadened our search. We looked for keywords like “Nikita Kushnir,” “Ukrainian artist,” and “Voluntary amputation” on the broadcaster’s website. No such news or similar video appeared on any of Euronews’ platforms.
Our next step was to analyze the specific frames used in the video. Let’s take a closer look at a few of them.
First, we were intrigued by a frame featuring a man with an amputated leg, so we attempted to identify him.
In the frame next to the man, there is a poster in Ukrainian that reads “Без обмежень” (“Without limits”), which is part of the advertisement campaign for prosthetics, orthotics, and rehabilitation centers that has been displayed in 10 cities across Ukraine.
Among the news related to these centers, we found a video containing an identical frame. It comes from a report by Deutsche Welle: Ukraine, which was published a year ago on the “DW Українською” YouTube channel [Ukrainian DW’s YouTube — ed.].
In this frame, Ukrainian serviceman Andrii, with the call sign “Artist,” is undergoing prosthetic fitting at one of the branches of the rehabilitation center in Kyiv.
The next frame in the video is a photo featuring a Ukrainian soldier. The photo was taken by Reuters photographers and has been widely used in both foreign and Ukrainian media since 2015.
We also found online the footage of Ukrainian soldiers used in the video. It comes from the promo video “Prayer for the Liberation of Ukraine,” which was published on May 27, 2023, as part of an informational campaign supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the official YouTube channel of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
After analyzing the news spread by propagandists, we found no information confirming the existence of the Ukrainian artist Mykyta Kushnir or the story of his voluntary leg amputation.
The video provided as evidence is assembled from clips taken from various publicly available sources. None of them show the artist’s face or any other visual evidence supporting the story.
To create credibility for the fake news, Russian propagandists used the logo and graphic design of the European news channel “Euronews.”
Conclusion: Fake
Author: Olha Yakovleva
Subscribe to news from Kharkiv, Ukraine
Most important stories from the frontline region
