On July 20, 2023, Georgian– and Russian-language (1,2,3) Facebook accounts published a caricature with the image of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The caricature depicts Zelenskyy holding three frightened leopards with a saber and pointing them to go straight away; next to the leopards is a mined land, and a little further away, one can see several soldiers wearing helmets with the symbol “Z.” According to the attached description, the caricature was published in one of the last issues of the American magazine The Nation.
The caricature disseminated on Facebook is fabricated and serves to discredit Ukraine and the Ukrainian army. A similar caricature has never been published on the cover of The Nation.
The leopards depicted in the illustration represent the “Leopard” type tanks handed over to Ukraine, which, according to the caricature, cannot penetrate the Russian defense line. On the far left side of the caricature, we see happy Russian soldiers hidden in bushes and trees.
The Nation is an American magazine first published in 1865. The caricature shared on Facebook cannot be found on the magazine’s official website, nor on its Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages.
“Myth Detector” contacted the publishing house of the magazine, where they confirmed that the caricature was not published in any issues of the magazine.
At the end of May and beginning of June 2023, the narrative that the Ukrainian side’s counter-offensive was unsuccessful, and many Ukrainian soldiers were killed or would be killed was amplified en masse. One of the methods by which the narrative is spread is by fabricating the illustrations and covers of well-known Western publications. “Myth Detector” has discovered a number of similar disinformation in the last two months. See more in the articles:
- Fabricated Caricature about Armed Forces of Ukraine Disseminated in the Name of Courrier International
- Fabricated Covers of HANDELSBLATT and HUMOR TIMES Disseminated on Facebbok (in Georgian)
- Fabricated Cover of the Spanish Satiricial Magazine EL JUEVES
- Another Fabricated Cover about Ukraine Disseminated in the Name of EULENSPIEGEL
About the Source:
The Russian-language account Ната Ли regularly publishes posts with anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian content. In the past, the user has disseminated disinformation as well.
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