Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has not asked the Canadian government to send 30,000 Canadians of Ukrainian origin to Ukraine. He never said the words that are being attributed to him in Russian media and in various social media posts. The quote comes from a Russian satirical Telegram channel.
Pro-Kremlin media and assorted pro-Russian social media accounts are busy spreading fakes, claiming that Ukraine plans to mobilize 30,000 Canadians of Ukrainian origin into military. They claim the source is none other than Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.
“A huge number of ethnic Ukrainians live in Canada; it is one of the largest national communities. Now, when the historical homeland needs them, they should be here. They are Canadian citizens, but first they are Ukrainians. We will ask the Canadian government to send 30,000 men of military age to us,” reads the alleged Reznikov quote.
Did the Ukrainian Defense Minister really say that Ukraine wanted 30,000 Ukrainian Canadians to join the war effort in Ukraine? StopFake factcheckers, unsurprisingly, found that this claim was simply another Russian fake.
Since neither social media posts nor Russian media publications indicated exactly when and where Minister Reznikov allegedly said this, StopFake began our factchecking process by searching Ukrainian media for such a statement, or words to that effect. The last time Ukrainian media quoted the country’s Defense Minister in the context of Canada was at the end of July 2023, when Reznikov expressed gratitude “for great support and personal friendship” to Canada’s Minister of National Defense Anita Anand. We also found no information about a request to the Canadian government in connection with the mobilization of troops for Ukraine.
Reznikov’s non-existent “quote” meanwhile began spreading energetically online in late July, early August 2023. We located the original publication of such a claim on the Russian Telegram channel Politicheskiy Yumor (Political Humor) dated July 28. The channel, which has nearly 43,000 subscribers, uses #humor, #sarcasm, #irony hashtags and describes itself as a platform for political humor in pictures. The original post features a photograph of young people in Ukrainian folk costumes carrying Canadian and Ukrainian flags. The headline reads ‘Ukraine plans to mobilize 30,000 Canadians,” followed by the fake Reznikov quote. Apparently, this is the original satirical post from which Russian media and pro-Kremlin bots launched their fake on the very same day.
The English language segment of the internet, particularly newly created accounts with small followings often quickly follow suit and disseminate Russian fakes. The fake Reznikov quote followed a well-trodden path and soon Reuters noticed that a quote about mobilizing ethnic Ukrainians from Canada baselessly attributed to Ukraine’s Defense Minister was busily making the rounds. Reuters fact checkers contacted both Canadian and Ukrainian authorities about the claim, both of whom denied the information.
Earlier, StopFake debunked Russian claims that Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov admitted he was taking part in terrorist activities.
