Debunking Russian fakes. No, wives of Ukrainian soldiers didn’t receive brochures with advice on how to endure physical abuse

The information about brochures with recommendations for wives of Ukrainian military on how to endure beatings and abuse spread online. It’s fake. 

Our fact-checking team figured out which sources were sharing this info and why.

What happened?

Since Aug. 12, Telegram channels that systematically shared Russian propaganda, including “Sheikh Tamir,” “Gura Anton,” “VOBLYA news,” “Ukraine.ru,” “Announcements Ukraine,” “RzhaVyi gvoZd,” and others, shared the supposed news that wives of Ukrainian soldiers received brochures with advice on how to endure physical abuse from their husbands.

Telegram channels that shared information about brochures with recommendations for wives of Ukrainian military

“Wives of Ukrainian soldiers were informed how to endure beatings from their husbands. The authors of the brochures explained that soldiers are aggressive because of the huge stress”, said the authors of the posts containing brochures.  

“They recommend that women endure and not keep their family troubles away from the public. Ukrainian women should also avoid wearing bright makeup so as not to provoke their men,” authors added.

Pro-Russian media, including “Ukraine.ru” and “Politikus” (1, 2), also shared the news about this supposed memo.

Analysis

First, our fact-checking team analyzed the content of shared brochures. We focused on stylistic choices in the text, non-typical recommendations (considering the sensitive topic), and grammatical mistakes (for example, the word “beats” (“побої”) was written in Russian instead of Ukrainian (“побиття”). So, they assumed that these brochures were fake.

Second, we checked the QR code in the bottom left corner of the brochure. It leads to the official website of the Empowering Women in Ukraine civil movement, a real NGO that supports the psychological well-being of the Ukrainian military and their families.

Pro-Russian media that shared information about brochures with recommendations for wives of Ukrainian military

When you visit the website, the organization immediately warns you about the spread of fake information regarding the widely circulated “brochures” in a pop-up.

“The fake “memo” is spread through the internet that contains “advice” for women to “endure” and “hide the signs of beatings.” They also used our brand and the QR-code with a link for our website. This is fake. We have not created such a thing and will never do it,” said Empowering Women.

The organization added that recommendations like these contradict the fundamental principles of the movement’s work.

“For over 10 years, we have supported soldiers and their families. We strongly condemn any kind of violence,” they said.

So, the Russian and pro-Russain sources used the brand and QR code of the Empowering Women’s website to mislead and discredit the organization and the Ukrainian military, whose families are getting help there and within other social projects.

QR code in the bottom left corner of the brochure.

Also, advice on those brochures contradicts the current Ukrainian legislation (Article 173-2 of the Code of Ukraine and Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Domestic violence, including physical abuse, is an administrative or criminal liability.

So, the information about brochures with advice for wives on how to endure physical abuse from the husband from the military is fake.

Conclusion: Fake

Author: Ilona Zholondiievska

Translation to English: Elza Diachenko