Posts claiming to show a video of a Ukrainian woman being dragged away for forced military conscription have been circulating on social media.
But the footage does not show this. Full Fact has traced the events back to an environmental protest against the felling of trees in Teremky, a neighbourhood in Kyiv.
The video shows uniformed men holding a woman by her arms, before lifting and carrying her. Many people sharing the clip on social media have claimed that it shows the “forced mobilization of women in Ukraine”.
We found the same clip was shared on Telegram at 10:32am on 22 September. However, a Google translation of the accompanying text says that it shows the municipal guards and a Teremky resident who was participating in a peaceful protest. This was the earliest version we could find online.
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Later that day at 4:31pm, it was shared by a Russian Telegram channel with the caption “a future nurse in Zelenskyy’s army”.
The original video has been included in a Kyiv Independent article about local opposition to the destruction of a forest strip to build a new heating pipeline in Teremky. The article names the woman in the video as Tania and reports she told the outlet: “They didn’t let me go until the very end, when I was already starting to lose consciousness from the pain.” Other coverage of the protest by local media also shares the scenes.
Shelter, a Ukrainian news organisation, also filmed an interview with the woman after the incident in the video, which was posted on the day of the demonstration. Her clothing and bag matches the person in the original clip and her hand has been bandaged.
The caption, translated from Ukrainian by Google, says: “Activist Tetiana Troshkina was injured during clashes in the capital’s Teremky neighborhood over the felling of trees for a heating network. Municipal security personnel injured her hand, damaging the ligaments in her fingers and requiring a cast.” She does not mention conscription in the interview.
The municipal guards in the video are not police but more akin to security guards funded by the city to protect municipal property, patrol the streets and assist police. A 24 September Facebook post by Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, asks for an internal investigation and legal assessment into the actions of the municipal security workers on the day of the protest.
We can find no credible reports or evidence that the video shows a woman being forcefully conscripted in Ukraine. In August this year, the parliament of Ukraine issued an official statement to confirm that women’s mobilisation is “not being carried out, prepared, or considered”. It said: “Women in Ukraine join the Defense Forces exclusively voluntarily.”
You can find more of our work checking claims relating to the war in Ukraine on our website. Our misinformation toolkit also contains tips and guides on how to spot misleading information before sharing it online.
